World number one Rafael Nadal won a battle of attrition against fellow left-hander Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-6(4) 6-4 to seal Spain’s spot in the final eight of the inaugural ATP Cup in Perth on Wednesday.
Meanwhile his long-time rival, world number two Novak Djokovic, had an easier outing in Brisbane, strolling past Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-3 6-3 to stay undefeated in the new year and to ensure Serbia will travel to Sydney for the knockouts having won all three of their ties.
Nadal had to twice fight back from a break down against the Japanese world number 72 in the opening set before winning the tiebreaker while the Spaniard broke his opponent’s serve to go up 5-4 in the second before holding serve for victory.
“It’s the first day I was playing under such heavy conditions, two previous days I had played in the night. The feeling on court was completely different,” Nadal said in an on-court interview. “I played against an opponent who started the season on fire, winning two matches against two great players with very comfortable results. Today was a very, very tough one.”
It was Nadal’s third singles win in the $15 million ATP Cup, which features 24 nations competing in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney over 10 days. Rafael Nadal came back twice from a break down against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka to put Spain into the ATP Cup quarter-finals in Australia.
The world number one won 7-6 (7-4) 6-4) to give Spain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie after Robert Bautista Agut had earlier beaten Go Soeda 6-2 6-4. Nadal then paired up with Pablo Carreno Busta to win the doubles rubber and end Japan's chances of a last-eight spot.
Davis Cup champions Spain have not lost a match in the group stage. An unusually sluggish Nadal was made to work hard against world number 72 Nishioka, making 19 unforced errors and dropping serve twice in the first set. It was the first time Nadal, who has not dropped a set at the tournament yet, had played in the hot conditions of the Perth day session.
"It's the first time I played under these heavy conditions, so the feeling on court is completely different," said Nadal, who will be seeking to equal Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open, which starts on 20 January.
The ATP Cup is a new 24-nation knockout tournament that has been set up by the men's professional tour to kick off the 2020 season. It features six groups of four teams, who each play three round-robin ties in an event played across Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
Among the countries who have already qualified for the quarter-finals are Great Britain, who face hosts Australia on Thursday (starts 23:00 GMT Wednesday). Novak Djokovic's Serbia and Russia are also through to the knockout stage, which will be played in Sydney.
All six group winners and the two best second-placed teams will advance to the final eight stage in Sydney. Besides hosts Australia, Serbia, Britain, Russia and Spain have qualified. Garin broke Djokovic in the second set to go up 3-1 but it seemed to bruise the seven-times Australian Open winner’s ego as he won the next five games to complete victory.
“Sydney’s got a big Serbian community, hopefully the support can be as good as it was here, even better,” Djokovic said. Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz also picked up his third singles win of the tournament with an upset 3-6 6-4 7-6(5) win over world number four Dominic Thiem of Austria in Sydney.
It was the second loss in the new season for Thiem, who also lost to Croatia’s Borna Coric in his opening match.
