ATP Brisbane: Nadal eases past Kubler to reach quarter-finals

Spain’s Rafael Nadal reached the last eight of the ATP Brisbane Open by winning against Australian wildcard Jason Kubler 6-1, 6-2 at the Queensland Tennis Centre on Thursday.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who is playing his first tournament in almost a year due to injuries, is through to his first quarter-final on tour since the 2022 Wimbledon Championships where he will meet another local favourite -Australian Jordan Thompson.

The 37-year-old Spaniard defeated Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem (7-5, 6-1) in his first match back earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Kubler, ranked No 102, benefited from the retirement of Russian Aslan Karatsev, the No 8 seed (6-4, 6-7 (4)) in the first round.

Brisbane ATP 250, other second-round results (Queensland Tennis Centre, USD 661,585):

• Grigor Dimitrov (2) beat Daniel Altmaier: 6-1, 6-2
• Jordan Thompson beat Ugo Humbert (4) walkover
• Rinky Hijikata (WC) beat Tomas Machac (Q): 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Holger Rune (1) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
• Roman Safiullin beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-7 (9), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Lukas Klein (Q): 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
• James Duckworth (Q) beat Yannick Hanfmann: 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (2)

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