MELBOURNE — World No. 1 Rafael Nadal faces three weeks out after being diagnosed with a torn inner hip muscle during his Australian Open quarterfinal defeat, his management said Wednesday. The 16-time Grand Slam champion had a scan in a Melbourne hospital after he retired early in the fifth set of his match with Croatia’s Marin Cilic Tuesday. “The MRI (scan) showed a grade one injury of his illiopsoas on his right leg,” his management said in a statement. “He will be resting over the next days once back in Spain and will start with anti-inflammatory physiotherapy. “He will start his rehabilitation and pre-adaptation process to the tennis court in two weeks, starting progressively his training and practice.” The Nadal team said the Spanish star was expected to be fully recovered in three weeks and could resume playing in Acapulco late next month. “Three weeks is the normal time to totally recover and he will resume his tennis schedule as planned, playing Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami,” the statement said. The Spaniard was forced to withdraw when trailing Marin Cilic 0-2 in the fifth set and called on tour organizers to do more to halt injuries to top players. “Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what’s going on. Too many people are getting injured,” Nadal said. “I don’t know if they think a little bit about the health of the players. I don’t know if we keep playing on these very hard surfaces what’s going to happen in the future with our lives.” It was the second time Nadal had been forced to pull out with injury in Melbourne after calling it quits in the third set of his 2010 quarterfinal against Andy Murray with a knee problem. Pliskova calls for end to late matches Dejected sixth seed Karolina Pliskova said Australian Open organizers should do away with late-night/early morning matches after crashing out in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Pliskova was trampled by Simona Halep in a match that started just before 4:00 p.m. Wednesday. She complained about her fourth-round match with fellow Czech Barbora Strycova. That had started with dwindling spectator numbers at around 11:00 p.m. Monday and stretched to three sets and 2hr 41min until nearly 2:00 a.m. Tuesday. “I think just these late night matches they should cancel,” Pliskova told reporters after her 71-minute drubbing on Rod Laver Arena. “I went to sleep at seven in the morning yesterday,” lamented the world No. 6. By then her quarterfinal opponent Halep had been tucked up in bed all night, having played her match against Naomi Osaka in the afternoon. “I put alarm at 12 (noon), just to try to have a normal day,” Pliskova said. “I went to hit. Overall after was fine. But still it changed a little bit. Today was a day match. It’s completely different. Every match for me was different.” This year had already seen a new record for the latest start to a match at the Australian Open when Daria Gavrilova’s second-round match against Elise Mertens began 11:59 p.m. The latest end to a match at any Grand Slam was at Melbourne Park in 2008 when Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis finished a five-setter at 4:33 a.m.