BEIJING: Rafael Nadal got some fiber from a tennis ball lodged in his eye but that did not stop the world number one setting up a China Open semifinal on Saturday with “great guy” Grigor Dimitrov.
The Spaniard tamed the big-serving American John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (7/0) on Friday to set up the clash with the third-seeded Bulgarian.
Dimitrov booked his place in the last four on Beijing’s outside hard courts with a 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2 victory over another Spaniard, Roberto Bautista Agut.
Nadal, 31, the 16-time Grand Slam champion, revved up a gear to surge through the tie break in the second set, although there was concern at one point during the second set when he appeared to be suffering an eye problem.
“Just something came to my eye, that’s all,” said Nadal, who is chasing a sixth title this year.
“I think it was just a hair or something, a hair from the tennis ball. It was bothering me for a while.”
“Not important, (but) I am still feeling (it) a little bit by the way,” Nadal, who attempted to wash the suspected fiber out with water, added with a smile.
Nadal will face a familiar figure in Dimitrov — the pair practiced together at Nadal’s base in Mallorca before the US Open, where the Spaniard won the title for a third time this year.
They even went fishing together, but Nadal said they will have their game faces on for Saturday: “At the end of the day we are competitors.
“We go on court and we try our best and we want to win.
“Of course, he is a player that I really have like a good friend on the tour. He’s a great guy.”
Also into the semifinals is the Australian Nick Kyrgios, who was up 6-0 and 3-0 when Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis retired.
Kyrgios faces the number two seed Alexander Zverev of Germany or Russia’s Andrey Rublev.
Simona Halep took a step nearer overhauling Garbine Muguruza as world number one when the Romanian raced into the semifinals of the women’s draw.
The second-ranked Halep eased past Russia’s unseeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 in 69 minutes and will face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
The pair met at the French Open earlier this year, with Ostapenko winning the duel.
The Spaniard Muguruza’s short stay at the top is under severe threat after she bowed out in the first round in the Chinese capital with a virus.
Halep is in red-hot form and closing in.
She claimed the scalp of former number one Maria Sharapova in the previous round — beating the Russian at the eighth attempt.
Petra Kvitova became the third woman into the semifinals when she defeated fellow Czech Barbora Strycova.
Nadal defies ‘tennis ball hair’ mishap to sweep into Beijing semis
Nadal defies ‘tennis ball hair’ mishap to sweep into Beijing semis
Set to go: Two weeks of tennis mania Down Under ahead of the Australian Open
- Leading the way is the United Cup, a mixed teams event which will be played in Perth and Sydney beginning Friday and finishing Jan. 11
- Also during the first full week of 2026, the Brisbane International will be headlined by defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, fresh off the Battle of the Sexes exhibition against Nick Kyrgios in Dubai
BRISBANE: If it’s a new year, it must be serious tennis time Down Under.
Just over six weeks since the ATP and WTA held their respective 2025 Finals, players on the men’s and women’s tours are arriving in Australia and New Zealand for a crammed two-week schedule of tournaments ahead of the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam event starting Jan. 18 in Melbourne.
Leading the way is the United Cup, a mixed teams event which will be played in Perth and Sydney beginning Friday and finishing Jan. 11. The tournament will feature four of the world’s top 10 men and women including Coco Gauff, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Iga Świątek, Alexander Zverev, Jasmine Paolini and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Also during the first full week of 2026, the Brisbane International will be headlined by defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, fresh off the Battle of the Sexes exhibition against Nick Kyrgios in Dubai.
But missing from the pre-Australian Open tournaments are the two biggest names in men’s tennis: No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and second-ranked Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz and Sinner — who have won nine of the last 10 Grand Slam singles titles, with Sinner winning the 2025 Australian Open — have decided to play an exhibition at Incheon, South Korea on Jan. 10. After the exhibition, it’s expected they’ll fly to Australia to begin their preparations at Melbourne Park.
Alcaraz will be playing his first major in seven years without coach Juan Carlos Ferrero — the Spanish player recently announced their split. Alcaraz has not announced a replacement.
Other players at the United Cup, which begins Friday with Greece taking on Japan in Perth, include Emma Raducanu, Naomi Osaka, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Wawrinka, who has said 2026 will be his last year on tour.
The 40-year-old, three-time major winner Wawrinka says he hopes to improve on his current ranking of 157 and move back into the top 100 before he retires. His highest ranking was No. 3, achieved when he won the Australian Open in 2014.
“I’m happy with the decision (to retire) and feeling at peace with that,” Wawrinka said when he arrived earlier this week in Perth.
Joining Sabalenka at the 500-level Brisbane International will be two-time major finalist Amanda Anisimova, WTA Finals champion Elena Rybakina, reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva.
The 18-year-old Andreeva is tipped to be the next big thing in women’s tennis and she could renew her rivalry with Sabalenka in Brisbane. Sabalenka leads 4-2 in the head-to-head matches but world No. 9 Andreeva had a three-set win in the Indian Wells final in 2025.
The Russian also made it to the quarterfinals at last year’s French Open and Wimbledon along with the semis at Roland Garros in 2024 when at 17 she became the youngest to reach the final four in a major since Martina Hingis at the 1997 US Open.
“Maybe the rivalry (with Sabalenka) is a little bit there but she is leading ... unfortunately ... for now,” Andreeva told Australian Associated Press this week.
Andreeva lost to Sabalenka in the semifinals in Brisbane in 2025 and again in the fourth round at the Australian Open before her victory at Indian Wells where she was the youngest winner since Serena Williams.
“That gave me a lot of confidence. Winning Indian Wells is a milestone of my career so far,” she said.
In the second week of the warm-up events, the joint ATP- WTA Adelaide International featuring 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic will run from Jan. 12-17 as well as a WTA 250 tournament at Hobart, Australia.
Auckland, New Zealand will host a WTA tournament from Jan. 5-11 before the ATP plays at the same venue from Jan. 12-17. Kyrgios and Frances Tiafoe are scheduled to play in an exhibition tournament at Kooyong in Melbourne several days before the Australian Open begins.
And in the only warm-up tournament being played outside Australia or New Zealand, Hong Kong will host an ATP event from Jan. 5-11.
The ATP events will come under a new rule for 2026 to address extreme heat during men’s matches that will allow for 10-minute breaks during best-of-three-sets singles matches and is similar to what was put in place on the WTA more than 30 years ago.
