Watching Rafa Nadal hit a reverse smash will never get old. Just a reminder of how insanely athletic he is. Not an easy shot to pull off, but he makes it look easy every single time. 🇪🇸
PREVIEW | 2024 Brisbane International Day Six including NADAL v THOMPSON, SABALENKA, RYBAKINA and RUNE
Tennis NewsThursday, 04 January 2024 at 16:00
The Quarter-Finals are on the slate on Friday at the 2024 Brisbane International with Rafael Nadal once again in action as well as Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina among others.
In our preview, we look ahead to the main talking points of the ATP and WTA draws and who is in action on Day Six as the ATP 250 and WTA 500 head closer towards their conclusion.
Nadal faces Thompson in top tie
Rafael Nadal started the week with some good luck after he was paired with a qualifier to begin with and then he faced Jason Kubler instead of Aslan Karatsev. Well that has somewhat continued as he will face Jordan Thompson instead of fourth seed Ugo Humbert.
Don't take anything away from Nadal as he has been terrific so soon into his comeback, but perhaps he has done so with hindsight that he has faced lesser opposition albeit it is a tournament which sees Holger Rune as top seed and many of the big names falling early so an opportunity could present itself for a miraculous first title run in his return. A fairytale if you will. They play last up on Friday.
Rybakina, Sabalenka headline WTA action
For a third day in a row, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka will play after some incredible first matches from the pair who have disposed of most recently Elise Mertens and Lin Zhu barely losing a game en route and now have their toughest tests but also winnable ones in reaching the semi-finals.
Rybakina will face Anastasia Potapova who is the 11th seed this week in Brisbane second up on the slate. This comes up after likely one of the games of the day as Jelena Ostapenko will face Victoria Azarenka. While Sabalenka is interspersed between Holger Rune and James Duckworth and Nadal. She will play the tougher of the two with Daria Kasatkina her next opponent. Alongside Iga Swiatek in the United Cup, the two other best players in the world by many estimations have also started their seasons superbly.
As has Mirra Andreeva who will be a host of players on the Show Court 1, she has barely dropped a game after her opener against Diana Shnaider taking apart Liudmila Samsonova and Arina Rodionova. Next up is Linda Noskova and she could face Rybakina in the semi-finals in a great chance of a run and superb ranking points.
Rinky Hijikata facing second seed Grigor Dimitrov and Roman Safiullin taking on Matteo Arnaldi are the other ATP Quarter-Finals on the schedule on Friday.
Read also
2024 Brisbane International Schedule
| Pat Rafter Arena | Show Court 1 |
| Starting at 11:00am | Starting at 11:00am |
| (3) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) v (8) Victoria Azarenka | Doubles Match |
| (11) Anastasia Potapova v (2) Elena Rybakina (KAZ) | Roman Safiuillin v Matteo Arnaldi |
| (1) Holger Rune (DEN) v (Q) James Duckworth (AUS) | Linda Noskova (CZE) v Mirra Andreeva |
| (1) Aryna Sabalenka v (5) Daria Kasatkina | (WC) Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v (2) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) |
| (WC) Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Jordan Thompson (AUS) | Doubles Match |
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