Chilean Fernando Gonzalez shattered Rafael Nadal's Australian
Open dreams with a dazzling 6-2 6-4 6-3 victory yesterday to reach
the semifinals of a grand slam for the first time.
Just hours after third seed Nikolay Davydenko was hustled out by
Germany's Tommy Haas, Gonzalez pulled off the biggest upset of the
men's tournament by stunning the second seed with his bewitching
variety of strokeplay.
As Nadal surrendered his title hopes by slapping a backhand
wide, Gonzalez punched the air in delight before going off to
exchange high fives with some flag-waving Chilean fans in the
crowd.
"I'm really happy. I've been in the quarterfinal of grand slams
a few times but never won the matches so finally I'm in a semi and
I'm happy," Gonzalez, who will next meet Haas, said courtside.
The 10th seed becomes the first Chilean to reach the last four
of a major since Marcelo Rios's run to the Melbourne Park final in
1998.
Nadal had survived a four-set bruising encounter against
Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and a five-set thriller against
British teenager Andy Murray en route to the last eight. On
Wednesday, he ran out of options against an inspired Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who had claimed the scalps of local favourite Lleyton
Hewitt and fifth seed James Blake, barely produced a loose shot as
he completely outwitted his opponent with his attacking
repertoire.
He unleashed 10 aces and 41 winners to destroy the world number
two, who produced just seven winners in comparison.
"He was playing at a very good level. It wasn't good for me,"
said Nadal, who said he had injured his leg after his fourth-round
victory over Murray.
"I have pain not just in one place, I have it in my famous
arse," he added, pointing comically to his backside.
Audacious forehands
"I had problems in my leg so I couldn't run properly. It was
difficult to play a quarterfinal like this."
Gonzalez tortured the double French Open champion by dragging
him away from the baseline time and again, forcing the Spaniard to
awkwardly fire errors from the net.
As his tormentor whipped audacious forehands from the back of
the court and produced stinging volleys from the net, Nadal could
barely believe the action unravelling in front of him.
He tried to slow the pace down by taking his time to change his
shirt at the end of the second set, irritating Gonzalez with the
Chilean already waiting at the baseline.
That failed to have the desired effect.
Dominating the baseline exchanges with his flamboyant shots, the
10th seed left Nadal deflated as he had an answer for every
challenge the world number two could muster his way.
In the second game of the decider, Nadal thought he had conjured
a winning lob but Gonzalez chased it down and turned around almost
360 degrees to whip a ferocious spinning forehand which dipped just
inside the baseline.
With Nadal running out of tactics in the Rod Laver Arena, he
immediately called for a trainer and took an injury time out.
Instead of distracting his opponent, it had the opposite effect
and Gonzalez charged towards victory in just over two hours.
Nadal, the dual French Open champion, was expected to win his
way through the bottom half of the draw to the final, but said he
was restricted by the upper thigh injury.
"I was practising a little bit because I was very tired. Today I
was going to warm up. I didn't feel very bad. I just feel very
tired. The leg hurt.
"But when I am on court, I can't run. It was difficult and
disappointing for me."
The Chilean thundered down 10 aces and made 41 outright winners,
20 of them on the forehand.
"I have been working with my coach Larry (Stefanki) for a few
months and I've been trying to go in (to the net) and trying to
slice more and trying to run a little bit more and save some
points," he said.
"Before I used to hit, hit, I would win a point and lose a point
and now I have other strategies to play and makes me play much
better."
With world number one Roger Federer safely into the semis
against American sixth seed Andy Roddick, Haas joined them with a
gritty come-from-behind 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over third seed
Davydenko.
The unassuming Russian looked good for victory and had a match
point in the final set but he blew his chance and the German
pounced.
"I don't know how I did it, I was just hanging tough. It's a
major play on this kind of arena and I'm so happy right now," said
Haas.
(China Daily via AFP January 25, 2007)