Kyle Edmund loses to Stan Wawrinka at the Brisbane International
Rafael Nadal beaten by Milos Raonic
Friday 6 January 2017 18:32, UK
British No 2 Kyle Edmund eventually succumbed to Stan Wawrinka in the Brisbane International quarter-finals after a spirited performance.
Edmund outplayed the three-time Grand Slam winner to take the first set before Wawrinka's comeback earned him a 6-7 (7-2) 6-4 6-2 success in over two and a half hours.
But Edmund, ranked at 45 in the world, showed enough to suggest that his stock will continue to rise in 2017 as he aims to make an assault on the top 25.
He did not look out of place against Wawrinka, the world No 4, and bossed the first set, eventually converting his eighth break point to leave him serving for it.
The Swiss hit back immediately to level, but Edmund regrouped and dominated the tie-break to take the lead.
Wawrinka upped his game, though, and won the second set with a solitary break midway through and then put himself in control by taking Edmund's serve in the opening game of the deciding set and then again to go 5-2 in front.
Edmund landed one blow back but US Open champion Wawrinka served out for the match at the second time of asking to set up a semi-final against Kei Nishikori.
Nishikori had little trouble in disposing of Australian wild card Jordan Thompson, coming through for the loss of just two games to reach the last four.
In the opposite side of the draw, Milos Raonic's clash with Nadal was the highest profile of the event and it was Canada's world No 3 who came through.
14-time Grand Slam champion Nadal is back in action after an injury-hit 2016 and having performed well in Brisbane to date he faced his toughest test against Wimbledon runner-up Raonic.
But it was the Spaniard who took the opening set before Raonic, the defending champion, fought back to seal a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory and set up a semi-final showdown with seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Austria's world No 8 Dominic Thiem.
Nadal was left to reflect on a lull in the crucial third set that handed the initiative and ultimately the match to his opponent
"I had 10 minutes that were very hard, and playing against a player like him, that's terrible," he said.
"He played aggressive, he played great, his returns on my serve during those games were very, very aggressive, and the serve was huge."
Elsewhere with Edmund and Johanna Konta beaten in Brisbane, a third Brit went down fighting, this time in Chennai when Aljaz Bedene lost in straight sets to France Benoit Paire
The British number four has survived a three-hour battle with Martin Klizan to set up his quarter-final meeting with Paire but that victory looked to have taken it's toll as he was beaten 6-3 6-0.
Bedene claimed just six points in the second set as world number 47 Paire raced through to a semi-final meeting with Roberto Bautista Agut.
Veteran Israeli Dudi Sela is into the last four to play highly-rated Russian Danii Medvedev after both me came through their quarter-finals without dropping a set.
