Rafael Nadal continued his impressive return from injury with a dominant win over Jason Kubler at the Brisbane International.
The 22-time winner of the grand slam tournament returned to singles play after a year-long absence due to a hip injury. In his first match against Dominic Thiem, he displayed a strong performance and continued that momentum by defeating Kubler 6-1, 6-2. Despite receiving a time violation for taking too long to change his clothes in the second set, Nadal told reporters in Brisbane that it was a positive match.
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“I believe that the initial five matches of the competition have been played at a highly impressive standard of tennis, with me executing my strategies effectively. I have consistently performed well and executed my game plan. I am pleased with my win and it holds significance for me.” Nadal’s upcoming opponent will be another player from Australia, Jordan Thompson.
The number two seed, Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated Andy Murray in the first round, advanced smoothly to the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Daniel Altmaier.
In the women’s competition, the highest-ranked players Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina displayed excellent performance, only losing one game each. Sabalenka, who previously defeated Rybakina to claim her first grand slam title at last year’s Australian Open, easily defeated Zhu Lin with a score of 6-1, 6-0. Similarly, Rybakina also dominated her match against 13th seed Elise Mertens, ending with a matching score of 6-1, 6-0.
At the age of 16, Russian player Mirra Andreeva has advanced to the quarterfinals with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win against Arina Rodionova. She will now go on to face another young player, Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova.
Source: theguardian.com
