Rafael Nadal Tops Tsonga To Set Murray Clash

Written by: Staff on 29th March 2012

Rafael Nadal Tops Tsonga To Set Murray Clash

epa03019834 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal serves a ball during a training session at La Cortuja Olympic stadium in Seville, southern Spain, on 30 November 2011. Spain will face Argentina from 02 to 04 December at their Davis Cup final. EPA/JULIO MUNOZ |

by Matt Fitzgerald

(Original Story: http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/News/Tennis/2012/Tournament/Wednesday-2/ATP-Nadal-Battles-Past-Tsonga.aspx )

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal set up a semi-final showdown with fourth-ranked Andy Murray at the Sony Ericsson Open Wednesday evening, topping sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and 50 minutes.

The Spaniard served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, before Tsonga caught fire to win three games in a row, forcing a third set. Each player held their serve until the ninth game, when Nadal converted his fourth break against the Frenchman to lead 5-4. In an intense final game, the three-time Miami finalist fought off two break points to knock off Tsonga for the second consecutive year in the quarter-final stage at Crandon Park.

“I didn’t play very well tonight,” assessed Nadal. “I think I started the match playing really well, but later when I had the break in the second [set], I started to play more defensive… My feeling was Jo was having much more mistakes than usual, so the match didn’t have the right rhythm.”

Nadal is bidding to become the first Spanish man to win the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event and is also seeking his first title of the year, having reached the final of the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic). He holds a 13-5 record against Murray, but the Scot won their most recent encounter in the Tokyo title match last October.

“Playing Andy is a pleasure for me, and exciting playing against a player like him [who] pushes you [to] the limit on everything,” Nadal said. “The negative thing is I have to recover well.”

The tournament set a new attendance record for Session 18, with 14,176 fans turning out for Wednesday’s night session.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, noticias del tenis, Rafael Nadal, Sony Ericsson Open 202, Sports, tenistas españoles, Tennis News