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"Very sad for him": Advancing Cilic sympathises with retiring Rafa

Marin Cilic. (Photo: WIki Commons)
Roar Guru
23rd January, 2018
0

Croatian Marin Cilic is through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open after No.1 seed Rafael Nadal retired from their quarter-final on Rod Laver Arena.

Nadal received treatment for a leg issue in the fourth set before he succumbed down a break in the fifth set with Cilic leading 3-6 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 2-0.

“Sometimes in these occasions where a player gets hurt a bit you’re not exactly sure what are his possibilities … how is he going to come up,” Cilic said.

“I just tried to stay in my own box and continue with playing well, continue with that intensity. I kept with my own game, with the plan, obviously it paid up.

“In the end I was very unfortunate because Rafa is always fighting really hard, always giving the best on the court.

“He played a very good tournament … obviously it’s very sad for him to finish the way he did.”

Cilic has made the semi-finals at Melbourne Park once before, in 2010, when he was beaten in four sets by Andy Murray.

Nadal called for the trainer for the first time down 1-4 in the fourth set and received treatment high on his right leg by the side of the court.

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He received further treatment after he lost the fourth set and shook Cilic’s hand after he lost his first service game of the final set.

“It’s not my hip, but I can’t tell you exactly the muscle,” a despondent Nadal told reporters.

“It’s high on the leg.

“We’ll communicate what’s going on after I have an MRI (on Wednesday).”

Cilic will meet British surprise packet Kyle Edmund in the semi-finals after he upset No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Incredibly, Edmund is just one win away from supplanting three-time major champion Andy Murray as the British No.1.

The 23-year-old now stands just two wins away from what would be a hugely improbable triumph at a tournament where Sir Andy has reached the final five times without ever lifting the title.

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Edmund has already created history as the first British man other than Murray to reach the Australian Open semi-finals in 41 years.

Not since John Lloyd in 1977 has anyone but Murray achieved the feat.

“It’s an amazing feeling – I’m very happy,” said Edmund.

“With these things you’re so emotionally engaged that you don’t really take it in, you don’t really enjoy yourself, so just at the end … I just really tried to enjoy the moment.”

The victory came in Edmund’s first-ever match on Rod Laver Arena against a better-credentialled opponent in Dimitrov, who had ended the campaign of local favourite Nick Kyrgios in the previous round.

“It hurts – and so it should,” Dimitrov said.

“I need to give myself a couple of days just to relax a little bit and do things I don’t get a chance to do during the tournament, and reassess the whole Australian trip.

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“Overall it wasn’t a bad one, but it certainly wasn’t where I wanted to be.”

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