Australian Open: World No 1 Rafael Nadal retires hurt leaving Marin Cilic to face Kyle Edmund in semi-finals

Australian Open: World No 1 Rafael Nadal retires hurt leaving Marin Cilic to

face Kyle Edmund in

semi-finals

Rafael Nadal as won more matches here at the Australian open than at any other Grand Slam tournament except the French Open, but the injury curse which has brought him down so often in the past struck again here on Tuesday.

Nadal twice led by a set in his quarter-final against Marin cilic, but injured a hip muscle in the fourth set and was eventually forced to retire with the Croatian leading 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, 2-0. Nadal had been hoping to reach his 27th Grand Slam semi-final, but instead it will be Cilic who will face Britain’s Kyle Edmund on Thursday.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, who was unable to play any warm-up tournaments before arriving here because he was recovering from a knee injury, admitted these were “tough moments”.

He added: “This is not the first time an opportunity has gone for me. I am a positive person, and I can be positive, but today is an opportunity lost to be in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam and to fight for an important title.

 “In this tournament this has already happened to me a couple of times in my life. I really do not want to say that it is frustrating, but it is tough to accept, especially after the tough December that I had without having a chance to start in Abu Dhabi and then Brisbane.

“I worked hard to be here. We did all the things that we believed were the right things to do to be ready. I think I was ready. I was playing OK. I was playing a match in which anything could happen: I could win or I could lose. I am being honest. He was playing well, too.

“But I was fighting for it. I was two sets to one up. I will just have to try to recover, go back home, stay with my people, and keep going. That is all. Always in the tough moments, even if it’s difficult to think this way, there are so many positive things that happened in my career.”