Nadal’s fitness in question after loss to Berdych

MELBOURNE — Rafael Nadal is out of the Australian Open. The 14-time Grand Slam champion lost his quarter-final to No 7 seed Tomas Berdych yesterday in three punishing sets: 6-2, 6-0, 7-6.

It was Nadal’s heaviest defeat at a Major in more than five years and Berdych’s first victory over him in 18 attempts.

Nadal appeared to be struggling physically for most of the match and was blown away in the first two sets by Berdych in only an hour.

The third set was closer. Nadal dug in, appeared to be moving a little more freely and tried to keep the points short.

But after squandering two match points at 6-5, Berdych took control of the tie-break and closed it out 7-5 to break one of the longest losing streaks in the history of professional tennis. He will face Andy Murray in tomorrow’s semi-final.

“I set up my plan pretty well and stuck with that all the way through the three sets,” Berdych said. “I was expecting a very tough battle, but I was ready for everything.”

The main talking point will naturally be Nadal’s ongoing fitness struggles, the Spaniard having played only eight matches since June because of an injury to his right wrist, followed by appendix surgery in November.

But nothing should detract from a glorious afternoon for Berdych. Long regarded as one of the most talented players on the tour without a Grand Slam title to his name, he did virtually everything right here: Playing aggressively, finding the corners and serving well.

In particular, he climbed all over the Nadal serve, which was a phantom of its usual quality. In the first two sets, Nadal did not win a single point on his second serve and not all that many on his first either.

Appearing restricted, stretching his back between points and massaging his thigh between games, Nadal nevertheless did not call the trainer at any point and characteristically refused to use his injury as an excuse.

“No, I am feeling okay,” he said. “I didn’t play with the right intensity, with the right rhythm. The opponent played better than me. That’s sport. It’s obvious I needed something more to be competitive. I made him play very easy. You cannot expect to win matches in the quarter-final of a Grand Slam playing like that.”

Berdych’s victory would appear to open up the draw for Murray, who beat the home favourite Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in a later match.

Having been drawn in the same half as Nadal and Roger Federer, Murray will now have to face neither. But one underestimates Berdych at his peril, especially when he is in form like this, and Murray will be familiar with the Czech’s coach, Dani Vallverdu, a former member of his own coaching team.

Meanwhile, Nadal was asked whether things might have been different had he managed to clinch the third set tie-break. “‘If’ doesn’t exist in sport,” he replied. “‘If’ never comes. You have to do it. That’s sport. I lost.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

The Australian Open will be shown live on StarHub TV Ch 208 and mioTV Ch 114 at 8am and 4.30pm today.