TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN:A FIRE alarm sounded in the Rod Laver Arena just a few seconds after the fourth and last Australian Open men's quarter-final. Rafa Nadal was on fire. The world number one has not dropped a set so far, and the under-swell of confidence, the riptide of self-belief, appears to be rushing the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion towards his first hard-court slam final on Sunday.
His opponent, the Frenchman Gilles Simon, a surprise entry into the top 10 last year, had snaffled victory from Nadal in front of his home fans in the Madrid Masters towards the end of last year, and with the centre-court roof firmly shut because of the scorching temperatures, well over 40C, there was half an inkling he might spring an upset.
Simon, despite climbing into the elite, had never managed to get past the third round of any slam before. He is a lightweight in a land of giants, nicknamed Poussin by the French because of his thin legs. Yet Nadal knew only too well that he could not afford to take him in the least lightly.
“I have to run for five hours to win. I have no choice,” said Simon before this match. He managed just under two and a half, with Nadal winning 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.
This set up the Australian Open’s first men’s all-Spanish semi-final, with Nadal up against fellow left-hander and Davis Cup team-mate Fernando Verdasco. Nadal has a 6-0 head-to-head record, which would incline most bookmakers – the ones which made Andy Murray favourite for this tournament – not to offer serious odds on a Verdasco win. But the joy of the Australian Open, set as it is at the beginning of the season, is that you never know.
Verdasco, pretty much continued where he had left off against Murray, beating last year’s surprise finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Remarkably, Verdasco, prior to this tournament, had won only a couple of small events on clay, and never progressed beyond the last 16 of a slam in 22 attempts. So much for statistics.
The 25-year-old, born and bred in Madrid, finished last year in the top 20, a rise based on consistency rather than the coruscating brilliance of Nadal, but it was Nadal’s absence that was to provide the most significant moment of his career, in Buenos Aires at the end of last year.
Nadal missed the Davis Cup final because of injury, leaving Verdasco to play a key third-day singles against Jose Acasuso. The pressure was enormous, and Verdasco won, clinching the trophy for his country, and filling him with a new self-belief.
Tsonga had not played the Spaniard before, and simply could not reproduce the penetration and power that swept Nadal away in last year’s semi-finals. For which the world number one was grateful: he would much rather play his countryman for a place in his first Australian Open final.
“I have never played Fernandez when he was at this level, beating Murray and Tsonga. He was very focused all the time,” said Nadal, who added he had never known heat like it when he was preparing for the match against Simon. “He is my friend, but it will be very tough.”
Few believe Verdasco has a realistic chance. Rafa is the Big Heat.
On the women’s front, Serena Williams survived the onset of the once-in-a-century heatwave and endured an out-of-body experience to oust Svetlana Kuznetsova and join a trio of Muscovites in the semi-finals.
Only the American’s refusal to buckle and the organisers’ decision to close the roof as the mercury soared, prevented a Russian sweep of the quarter-finals after Elena Dementieva had earlier endured the brutal conditions to advance. Dementieva beat unseeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-2.
Her compatriots Vera Zvonareva and Dinara Safina booked their semi-final berths on Tuesday.
Guardian Service
MEN’S SINGLES
Quarter-finals: (1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt (6) Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-2 7-5 7-5, (14) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt (5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3 6-2.
WOMEN’S SINGLES
Quarter-finals: (4) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Carla Suarez-Navarro (Spa) 6-2 6-2, (2) Serena Williams (USA) bt (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 5-7 7-5 6-1.
MEN’S DOUBLES
Quarter-finals: (4) Lukas Dlouhy (Cze), Leander Paes (Ind) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita), Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-1 7-6 (7-5), (2) Bob Bryan (USA), Mike Bryan (USA) bt Mardy Fish (USA), John Isner (USA) 7-5 7-6 (8-6).
MIXED DOUBLES
Quarter-finals: (7) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa), Tommy Robredo (Spa) bt Patty Schnyder (Swi), Wesley Moodie (Rsa) 5-7 6-4 12-10, Nathalie Dechy (Fra), Andy Ram (Isr) bt Dominika Cibulkova (Svk), Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 7-5 6-1, Sania Mirza (Ind), Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Can), Daniel Nestor (Can) 3-6 6-4 10-5.
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