Rafael Nadal storms into Brisbane quarterfinals in first tournament in almost a year

Rafael Nadal continued to impress in his comeback from injury in Brisbane on Thursday, blitzing Brisbane native Jason Kubler, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open lead-up event.

“It was a very positive match,” said Nadal, who lost just 12 points in eight service games. “To have a chance to play again tomorrow means a lot to me. After a long time being outside of the professional tour, the victories make me feel good, and I’m happy for that.”

The 22-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 is playing his first tournament in almost a year after missing almost all of 2023 because of a hip injury. In his first-round match on Tuesday he defeated 2020 US Open champion and former No. 3 Dominic Thiem, 7-5, 6-1.

Nadal is now through to his first quarterfinal since Wimbledon in 2022, which was almost exactly 18 months ago—he didn’t reach another quarterfinal the rest of the year that year, and then after a second-round loss at the Australian Open last year he ended his season due to the hip injury, for which he underwent surgery last June.

This is the milestone 225th tour-level quarterfinal of his career.

Awaiting Nadal in the last eight will be another Australian, Jordan Thompson, and the two should be very familiar with each other’s games—they actually played each other in doubles this past Sunday, with Thompson and fellow Aussie Max Purcell defeating Nadal and his fellow Spaniard (and coach) Marc Lopez, 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal and Thompson have faced off twice before in singles, the Spaniard winning both of those meetings in straight sets—in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Paris on indoor hard-courts in 2020, 6-1, 7-6 (3), and in the first round of Roland Garros in 2022, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Having come into this week ranked No. 672, Nadal is projected to rise to somewhere around No. 450 by reaching the quarters in Brisbane.