The big story: Nadal’s dream run continues

Former world No.1 Rafael Nadal beat Canadian Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 to storm into the Australian Open semi-finals. The Spaniard once again rolled back the years with some scintillating shots from the baseline in the first set. Third seed Raonic battled hard, but was unable to break Nadal’s serve. The Canadian struck the net at alarming regularity in the final set, which set up the win for the 14-time Grand Slam winner.

Nadal will face off against Grigor Dimitrov in the last four. The other semi-final will have Roger Federer battling it out against his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka.

Other top stories

Cricket

  • Indian skipper Virat Kohli has stated that he won’t hesitate to open the innings for his side in the upcoming Twenty20 International series against England, if needed. 
  • Australian pacer Joe Mennie was admitted to the hospital with internal bleeding in the brain after being struck by a ball during a practice session for his Big Bash League side Sydney Sixers. Despite being labelled as a serious injury, the 28-year-old was discharged from the hospital but will be ruled out for a month.
  • Board of Control for Cricket in India chief selector MSK Prasad hailed Wriddhiman Saha’s wicketkeeping skills, calling him the No.1 ’keeper-batsman in the country. 
  • England pacer David Willey has been ruled out of the first T20I against India in Kanpur after suffering an injury in the final One-day International in Kolkata. The visitors’ batting talisman Joe Root, though, is back after missing out the aforementioned one-dayer.
  • In the second semi-final of the BBL, Brisbane Heat scored 167/9 against Sydney Sixers at the Gabba. Heat skipper Brendon McCullum scored a 27-ball 46.
  • In the Women’s Big Bash League, Sydney Sixers romped to a facile 103-run win against Hobart Hurricanes in the second semi-final. Sixers’ skipper Alyssa Healy starred with the bat, scoring a blistering 77 off 45 balls.

Football

  • Liverpool’s Phillipe Coutinho signed a new five-year deal at the club and also became the highest-paid earner at Anfield. The current deal will see the Brazilian earn £150,000 pounds a week for the Reds.
  • The All India Football Federation on Tuesday denied reports suggesting it had sacked under-fire coach Nicolai Adam, who heads the Indian Under-17 team. 
  • Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson opined that current boss Jose Mourinho has done “a great job” since taking over the reins of the club in the summer of 2016. Ferguson also stated that the 20-time English champions would have been fighting for the title had they not been held to six 1-1 draws.
  • In the African Cup of Nations, highly-fancied Ivory Coast crashed out of the tournament’s group stage after losing 0-1 to Morocco. DR Congo progressed to the knockout stages with a 3-1 win against Togo.

Tennis

  • India’s Sania Mirza and partner Ivan Dodig prevailed in a tense battle against the Indo-Canadian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski 6-4, 3-6, 12-10 to enter the mixed-doubles semi-finals of the Australian Open.  
  • Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov reached the Australian Open semi-final for the first time after hammering Belgian David Goffin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-final on Monday.

Hockey

Indian skipper PR Sreejesh and teenager Harmanpreet Singh are in contention for International Hockey Federation awards in separate categories. The event, which is scheduled to take place on February 23, will be the first time that awards will be handed to players in a formal function.