Tennis: Rafael Nadal Defeats Gilles Simon
January 29th 2009 12:51
World No 1 Rafael Nadal set up an all-Spanish semi-final clash with Fernando Verdasco after continuing his impressive march through the Australian Open.
Nadal kept alive his record of winning every set he has played in this year's tournament, as he bulldozed past French sixth seed Gilles Simon 6-2 7-5 7-5.
His win ended what had been a highly-rated French challenge at the event, with Simon the last of five men's seeds from his country to fall, following Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's loss to Verdasco earlier in the day.
Having conceded a total of just 28 games in his previous four matches, Nadal looked on track to steamroll Simon in similar fashion in the first set.
He broke the Frenchman in the opening game of the match, then held his own serve to love to quickly assert his dominance, racing through the set with little pressure.
Simon's steady baseline tennis looked inadequate in the face of Nadal's superior consistency and power from the back of the court.
The pattern continued when the Spaniard picked up an early break of serve in the second set.
But Simon lifted his game, showing more adventure with his groundstrokes to pull off several fine winners and finally put Nadal under some pressure.
The Frenchman broke Nadal's serve to level at 2-2, then held his next three service games with little trouble to take a 5-4 lead.
With Nadal serving to stay in the set, Simon earned himself a set point with a crisp backhand winner, the first set point the world No.1 had faced in the tournament.
But the top seed stood firm, firing down a big first serve to stave off that challenge and help him level the set at 5-5.
He then turned the tables on Simon, breaking serve in the next game, setting up break point with the shot of the match, a forehand winner down the line played at a sprint from way out of court.
It proved the contest's critical moment, as Nadal followed his break by convincingly serving out the next game to take a two sets to love lead and an iron grip on the contest.
While Simon again forced Nadal to the wire in the third set, the Frenchman again faltered in the penultimate game.
A double-fault then an unforced error set up two break points, with the Spaniard clinching the second before serving out the match to love.
AAP
Nadal kept alive his record of winning every set he has played in this year's tournament, as he bulldozed past French sixth seed Gilles Simon 6-2 7-5 7-5.
His win ended what had been a highly-rated French challenge at the event, with Simon the last of five men's seeds from his country to fall, following Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's loss to Verdasco earlier in the day.
Having conceded a total of just 28 games in his previous four matches, Nadal looked on track to steamroll Simon in similar fashion in the first set.
He broke the Frenchman in the opening game of the match, then held his own serve to love to quickly assert his dominance, racing through the set with little pressure.
Rafael Nadal
Simon's steady baseline tennis looked inadequate in the face of Nadal's superior consistency and power from the back of the court.
The pattern continued when the Spaniard picked up an early break of serve in the second set.
But Simon lifted his game, showing more adventure with his groundstrokes to pull off several fine winners and finally put Nadal under some pressure.
The Frenchman broke Nadal's serve to level at 2-2, then held his next three service games with little trouble to take a 5-4 lead.
With Nadal serving to stay in the set, Simon earned himself a set point with a crisp backhand winner, the first set point the world No.1 had faced in the tournament.
But the top seed stood firm, firing down a big first serve to stave off that challenge and help him level the set at 5-5.
He then turned the tables on Simon, breaking serve in the next game, setting up break point with the shot of the match, a forehand winner down the line played at a sprint from way out of court.
It proved the contest's critical moment, as Nadal followed his break by convincingly serving out the next game to take a two sets to love lead and an iron grip on the contest.
While Simon again forced Nadal to the wire in the third set, the Frenchman again faltered in the penultimate game.
A double-fault then an unforced error set up two break points, with the Spaniard clinching the second before serving out the match to love.
AAP
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