Rafael Nadal seemed to be well on his way to the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
Instead, his comeback tournament was cut short.
Playing his first event since the 2023 Australian Open, Nadal squandered three match points in the second set and lost to Jordan Thompson 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 in a quarterfinal thriller on Friday night. Thompson set up a Saturday showdown with No. 2 seed Grigor Dimitrov after three hours and 26 minutes.
Nadal, who is returning from hip surgery and appeared to have a minor physical issue as Friday’s match progressed, came tantalizingly close to successfully building on early-round wins over Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler. The 37-year-old had three break points to up 3-1 in the second set and–despite missing that opportunity–eventually brought up match point with Thompson serving at 4-5, 30-40. Thompson went on to fight off two more match points at 4-6 and 5-6 in the tiebreaker.
After the Aussie dramatically pulled out the ‘breaker 8-6, he seized a crucial break at 2-1 in the third. From there Thompson had no trouble serving out the match.
“I completely forgot I saved match points,” Thompson admitted. “To beat Rafa at home in Brisbane in a quarterfinal…. I think it’s my first semifinal on a hard court, as well. I couldn’t be happier.”
The world No. 55 now faces Dimitrov, who disposed of Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-4. In the top half of the bracket the other semifinal pits top-seeded Holger Rune against Roman Safiullin. Rune defeated James Duckworth 6-2, 7-6(6); Safiullin ousted Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(4), 6-2.
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