May 31, 2024
Rafael Nadal continued on his tennis comeback after yet another resounding victory in the round of 16 at the Brisbane International in Australia on Thursday.
The 37-year-old Spanish native who defeated Dominic Thiem in his first match since January 2023 at the first round in Brisbane, eased past Australia’s Jason Kubler 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter finals at the hard-court ATP 250 event in style.
“I think I started the match playing very well, with a very good determination,” said Nadal in his on-court interview after powering past Kubler in 83 minutes. .
“I saw videos of Jason before the match and I saw him playing very solidly from the baseline, so I came on court and tried to be aggressive with my shots from the baseline.
“It worked very well. I think it was a very positive match for me and the chance to play again tomorrow means a lot to me. Two victories after a long time being outside of the professional Tour is something that makes me feel good.”
The 92-time tour-level titlist won 12 of the first 13 points in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Kubler and barely looked back thereafter as he booked a last-eight meeting with another home favourite, Jordan Thompson who he has defeated 10 times out of the 11 matches he played against Thompson.
“I need matches, I need health, I need to keep practising well and of course the past two matches here help, and even the doubles on the first day,” said Nadal, who has hinted that 2024 may be the final season of his career. “Of course, victories and hours spent on court help. For me, every day that I have the chance to play is great news, so I’m just happy for that, happy that I came back after a long time and feel competitive. Let’s see how far I can go.”
Rafael Nadal’s round of 16 victory over Jason Kubler means he has now reached the quarter finals of an ATP event for the 225th time in his career and also the first quarter finals since Wimbledon 2022.
Elsewhere, Grigor Dimitrov notched an equally comprehensive second-round triumph on Thursday, when he accelerated past Daniel Altmaier 6-1, 6-2. The second-seeded Dimitrov, who battled past former World No. 1 Andy Murray in three sets in the opening round to become the player with the most wins in tournament history, is now 20-7 at an event where he lifted the trophy in 2017.
The Bulgarian converted four of six break points he earned against Altmaier to advance in 68 minutes. His opponent in his seventh Brisbane quarter-final will be home wild card Rinky Hijikata, who battled past Tomas Machac 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4).
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