Nadal withdraws from Qatar Open, says ‘not ready to compete’
Former world no. 1 tennis star Rafael Nadal has further delayed his comeback after pulling out of the upcoming Qatar Open.
World nunber two men’s singles player Rafael Nadal on Thursday edged past defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in a match at the ongoing ATP Finals in London to enter the semifinals.
Nadal defeated the world number 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in two hours and five minutes to make it to his sixth last-four appearance at the uear-endinf event.
The victory ensured that the 34-year-old Nadal continued his pursuit of a maiden title at the ATP Finals. The Spaniard tallied a 2-1 record to claim second place in Group London 2020 behind Dominic Thiem.
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He will next play Daniil Medvedev in a rematch of the 2019 US Open final.
“(To) be in the semi-finals here, in the last tournament of the year, is an important thing,” Nadal said in his on-court interview as per the official ATP Tour website. “(I am) happy for that and I am looking forward to the semi-finals against Daniil (Medvedev).”
Last year, Nadal had defeated Tsitsipas in the final round-robin match, but the lefty was still ousted from the tournament. This time, he only needed a win to move on, and despite a slip at the end of the second set, he emerged victorious to extend his head to head lead against the Greek to 6-1.
“I still won two matches like last year,” Nadal said. “Last year, I was a little bit unlucky not to be in the semi-finals. The year before I had to pull out. It is always difficult to play here against the best players in the world every single day (at the) end of the season. Most of the time, you get here a little bit tired, but this year is a little bit different…I am just excited to be in the semi-finals and I hope to be ready to try my best,” he added.
In another match of the day Andrey Rublev beat world number three Dominic Thiem. The world number eight, Rublev, won 6-2, 7-5.
With IANS inputs
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