Rafael Nadal Makes Paris Masters Semi-final Against Novak Djokovic
Tennis 2009- Rafael Nadal silenced a partisan crowd by knocking out local favorite and Paris Masters title holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5 7-5 with an impressive performance on Friday to reach the semi-finals.
World number two Rafael Nadal, who has won the French Open on the other side of town four times but never this event at the Bercy hall, will meet Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.
The Serbian world number three earlier ruined Robin Soderling’s hopes of making the World Tour Finals in London by beating the Swede 6-4 1-6 6-3.
Rafael Nadal, who still has an outside chance of finishing the year as number one, had the crowd against him and faced a strong challenge from the powerful Tsonga, who loves fast indoor courts. But he showed more composure when it mattered.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who struggled in his previous two matches, saving five match points in the first, said: “I played a lot better today. I was really focused all the time and played well at important moments. This is positive and gives me a lot of confidence.”
Rafael Nadal made very few unforced errors and seized his chances, managing breaks with perfect timing in the 11th game of each set.
The energetic Spaniard underlined his determination by winning his last game to love and finishing with a service winner, putting Tsonga out of the race for the November 22-29 season finale featuring the world’s top eight players.
World number 10 Soderling’s defeat by Djokovic means the French Open runner-up, like Tsonga, will not go to London and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco grabs the last ticket to the finals.
Novak Djokovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer in the Basel final last week, looked tired at times, notably in the second set, which Soderling took in just 28 minutes.
“It looked tense because physically I didn’t really feel 100 percent there. I’ve been playing more than 90 matches this year and now two weeks in a row so I’m getting a bit tired, it’s all normal,” Novak Djokovic said.
More:
Rafael Nadal makes Paris Masters semis. Stuff
Nadal sets up semi-final against Djokovic. Reuters
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