Injured Nadal quits Wimbledon as Jabeur makes African history

LONDON - Rafael Nadal pulled out of Wimbledon with an abdominal injury on Thursday after Ons Jabeur became the first African woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final in modern times.

Nadal's decision - which hands a place in the men's final to Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios -- ends his dreams of a completing a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.

Kyrgios, ranked 40, will play either top seed and six-time champion Novak Djokovic or British ninth seed Cameron Norrie, who meet in the remaining semi-final on Friday.

Two-time champion Nadal was visibly in pain during his gruelling five-set win against American Taylor Fritz on Wednesday and indicated afterwards that he may not be able to continue.

Spanish sports daily Marca reported that Nadal had a "seven-millimetre" tear to his abdomen but still intended to play.

But the 36-year-old scheduled a press conference on Thursday evening at the All England Club at which he confirmed he was pulling out.

"Unfortunately, as you can imagine, I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament," said the 2008 and 2010 winner.

"As everyone saw yesterday I have been suffering with a pain in the abdominal and something was not OK there. That is confirmed, I have a tear in the muscle."

The second seed struggled throughout his match against 11th seed Fritz, but still managed to conjure a 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7/6 (10/4) win in four hours and 21 minutes.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion was given pain relief during the contest and had a medical time-out in the second set, admitting his father and sister had been gesticulating for him to quit.