Injured Nadal misses shot at history
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Rafael Nadal's bid to win four straight Grand Slam tournaments is over.
An injury-affected Nadal lost for the second straight year in the Australian Open quarterfinals, going down 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 yesterday in Melbourne to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Nadal, who appeared to have tears in his eyes during a changeover while trailing 3-0 in the third set, took a medical time out for an apparent leg injury after three games and was clearly out of sorts.
Nadal didn't bother to chase down balls that he would ordinarily return easily.
"This is a difficult day for me," Nadal said, adding that he preferred to not talk about the nature of the injury.
"Today I can't do more than what I did, he played at a very high level.
"I hate retiring," he added.
"I can say nothing about the injury," Nadal continued. "First of all, I don't know nothing. Second thing, for respect to the winner and to a friend, I prefer to talk about the match."
It was the second year in a row Nadal lost in the quarterfinals here due to injury - in 2010 he retired against Andy Murray due to a right knee ailment that kept him off the tour for two months, again on the Australia Day national holiday.
"This is one big victory for me, but it's not like a victory really," seventh-seeded Ferrer said on court after the match.
"He was playing with injury ... and I had luck. But I played my game."
Nadal, who didn't bother chasing the winner on match point, won last year's French Open, Wimbledon and US Open and was trying to add the Australian title so he could hold all four major trophies at once. That hasn't been achieved since Rod Laver won four in a row in 1969.
After losing the second set, the usually fidgety Nadal slumped in his chair at the changeover, completely still with his head bent.
Murray won't have to get past Nadal this year, but he will have to beat Ferrer and either defending champion Roger Federer or 2008 champion Novak Djokovic to claim his first major title.
He advanced earlier with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over unseeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Dolgopolov had already beaten 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and French Open finalist Robin Soderling and has the kind of unorthodox game that can unsettle higher-ranked players.
Apart from the second set, when 2010 finalist Murray didn't lose a point on serve until he had triple set point, momentum swung frequently.
"It was very tough," Murray said. "He hits the ball different from everyone else."
Dolgopolov was able to mix up his slice and spin with deep flat shots, sometimes at the net, sometimes at the baseline. He rarely gave Murray a look at the same ball twice in a row.
Dolgopolov had 77 unforced errors, mainly because he was trying to push Murray to the extremes.
"Just hitting with him on the baseline was just suicidal," Dolgopolov said. "I had to go for the balls and I think I was playing the right tactic."
Murray spent a lot of time talking to himself.
"I was trying to get myself pumped up," Murray said. "It was very slow, cool conditions out on the court. You need to make sure you're moving your feet a lot when you're out there.
"You need to urge yourself to play a solid, stable match," added Murray.
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