Advertisement

Help
You are here: Rediff Home » India » Sports » Tennis » Australian Open 2008 » Reuters > Report
Search:  Rediff.com The Web
Advertisement
  Discuss this Article   |      Email this Article   |      Print this Article

Unseeded Tsonga trounces Nadal
Get Sports updates:What's this?
Advertisement
January 24, 2008 16:44 IST
Last Updated: January 24, 2008 17:21 IST

Unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled off a stunning upset to beat second seed Rafael Nadal [Images] 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday.

- Sharapova, Ivanovic in final | Images

The world number 38, playing just his fifth Grand Slam tournament, simply blew the Spaniard off court in just under two hours to reach Sunday's final against top seed Roger Federer [Images] or third seed Novak Djokovic.

"It is just amazing, unbelievable, nothing could stop me today," Tsonga said in a courtside interview.

"I tried to hit everything and everything went in, so what can I say?"

"My family said it is like a dream for them, everybody in France [Images] is happy for me. I will try to do my best for the final."

Tsonga knocked out seeds Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny on his way to the last four and he came out with all guns blazing, peppering Nadal with a barrage of booming serves and groundstrokes to take the opening set in 32 minutes.

Nadal was rattled but the second set went with serve until the Spaniard cracked again in the eighth game, Tsonga mixing up his shots cleverly to frustrate the three-times French Open champion.

Nadal had not dropped a set in the tournament but he was powerless to contain Tsonga who broke serve twice more in the third set before serving out to clinch victory on his first match point.

Tsonga, 22, will be the third Frenchman to play in the Australian Open final after Jean Borotra in 1928 and Arnaud Clement in 2001.

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis was the last unseeded player to reach the men's final at Melbourne Park, in 2006.

Federer plays Djokovic in the second semi-final on Friday.



© Copyright 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
 Email this Article      Print this Article

© 2008 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer | Feedback