Rafael Nadal beats Tsonga to reach Paris semis

Rafael Nadal scored a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and set up a semifinal meeting with Novak Djokovic at the Paris BNP Paribas Masters.

Nadal struggled on his serve early in the first set, but managed to save five break points—including holding for 3-3 after being down 0-40. He gradually found his rhythm and pressured Tsonga with strong returns before breaking the Frenchman with a passing shot to lead 6-5. Nadal clinched the set with a forehand winner.

Rafa broke for a 6-5 lead in the second set when Tsonga missed two consecutive backhands.

“It was a very important victory for me,” Nadal said. "[It was] probably the first big victory after my comeback from the injury. So I'm very happy for that. I started the tournament playing almost terrible, and right now I'm in the semi-finals. I played aggressively during all the match. I went to the net a lot of times and had good volleys. I think I served really well, much better than the rest of the days. In important moments I had a few aces, so that give me a lot of confidence."

Novak Djokovic, who will play against Nadal tomorrow, defeated Robin Soderling 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

"(Nadal) is a big champion and plays really well on all surfaces. He is a big fighter," Djokovic said.

"It looked tense (against Soderling) because physically I didn't really feel 100 per cent," said Djokovic. "I just hope I can recover for the upcoming challenge."

About playing against Djokovic Nadal said:
"Probably he's the player who's playing better in this part of the season. He's doing really good end of the season. It's going to be a challenge for me and a good test. I know he's the favourite on this kind of surface, but I'm here to keep improving and we will see what happens tomorrow."


Source ATP/Reuters
Photo AP