Nadal skips Italian Open due to injury

MADRID — Rafael Nadal announced that he will not participate in next week’s Italian Open due to his left hip flexor injury.

Nadal, who has won the Italian tournament a record 10 times, has missed events at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and ongoing Madrid Open due to the injury he sustained in the second round of the Australian Open in January.

“I’m so sorry to announce that I won’t be able to play in Rome,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner wrote in Spanish on social media.

“You all know how much it hurts me to miss another of the tournaments that has been so important to me, both professionally and personally, because of all the affection and support of the Italian fans.

The 36 year-old Spaniard is not recovered from the hip muscle problems that have been troubling him. However, there was a slight tone of encouragement about his chances of playing at Roland Garros.

“Despite having noticed an improvement in the last few days, it has been many months since I’ve been able to train at a high level and the adaptation process takes time. All that is left for me to do is accept it and keep working. Best wishes to everyone.”

Nadal, 36, did not address his availability to defend his title at the upcoming French Open, however. Action at Roland Garros gets underway on May 28.

With Carlos Alcaraz through to the final of the Madrid Open the young Spaniard, is set to go into Paris with the pressure of being the favourite.

Former world No 1 and three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is through to the semi-finals of this week’s Open Aix Provence Credit Agricole, an ATP Challenger event in France, after a straight sets win over rising French teen Luca Van Assche.

Murray, who went winless in Monte-Carlo and Madrid, saved two set points in the second set tiebreaker to complete the 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) win in straight sets and set up a semi-final clash against another French player, Harold Mayot.

Mayot, a lucky loser this week, defeated sixth seed Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-1 in another quarter-final.

“It was a very tough end to the match, it could’ve gone either way,” Murray said as quoted by the ATP website.

“Had it gone to a third set, it would’ve been tough for me, after a long match. I just managed to get over the line in the end. I did quite well considering I recovered well from yesterday, which is really positive.”

Top seed Tommy Paul and David Goffin will clash in the other semi-final. Paul, ranked No 17 in the world, scored a 6-4, 6-2 win over Austria’s Jurij Rodionov while Goffin, a former top 10 player now ranked 95th in the world, scored a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) win over France’s Arthur Fils.