SEOpen: Nadal Plays Stellar Tennis To Defeat Tsonga

Key Biscayne, Fla—No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal put on a fantastic display of athletic tennis on Wednesday evening to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-3, 6-2 during the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Saving eight break points throughout the 90-minute match, Nadal raced through the second set on the strength of two breaks of serve after needing 48 minutes to capture the first set.

Using his consistent topspin forehand to dictate the tempo of the baseline exchanges, Nadal persevered through some rough moments during the opening stages of match, which included playing numerous deuce point games.

Overhitting his forehand to begin the encounter, Nadal picked up his level of play to capture his fourth straight win over the Frenchman.

Tsonga, who desperately wanted to engage the crowd in a longer contest, couldn’t handled the immense drive and determination of his opponent.

Falling in his second straight Masters 1000 quarterfinal, Tsonga dropped to 14-6 on the year.

Nadal, who improved to 16-3 on the season, will next meet 2004 champion Andy Roddick in Friday’s semifinal.

Roddick defeated Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3 earlier in the day.

Nadal told the crowd during his on-court interview that “I need to serve well against Andy if I want to have a chance.”

Leading Roddick 5-2 in career head-to-head meetings, Nadal remains tied with the American at two wins a piece on hard-courts.

Thursday’s quarterfinal matches will include: Mikhail Youzhny vs. Robin Soderling, and Fernando Verdasco vs. Tomas Berdych.

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