• Sony Ericsson Open

Determined Nadal sees off Tsonga

ESPN staff
March 31, 2010
Andy Roddick is yet to drop a set in Miami © Getty Images
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Rafael Nadal came out on top in the match of the tournament so far in his 6-3 6-2 quarter-final victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Sony Ericsson Open.

In an event plagued by underperforming stars, this match lived up to its billing with winners, and not errors, defining the opening exchanges. Nadal gradually got on top in the mental battle and ultimately proved too strong in his fifth and most dominating win over Tsonga in the pair's six match history.

Nadal is looking like the hot favourite to claim his first win in Miami, and certainly the winner of his semi-final with Andy Roddick will be the bookies' tip to go on and win the final.

Tsonga kept pace with Nadal for the first half of the first set, but he appeared to lose his way when questioning the umpire over the amount of time Nadal was taking between points. The clock showed Nadal was exceeding the 25-second limit, but Tsonga seemed to be distracted by the issue and was a notch off the Spaniard's level for the rest of the match.

Tsonga did create eight break points on the Nadal serve, but the world No.4 looked extremely focused towards getting back into the top two as he saved all those, including three in his first service game. Nadal finished with a flourish, hitting a forehand winner diagonally past the onrushing Tsonga while running at full pace across the baseline.

Andy Roddick enjoyed an untroubled 6-3 6-3 victory over Nicolas Almagro to secure his safe passage to meet Nadal.

Roddick is yet to drop a set this tournament and the sixth-seed didn't look like doing so against a Spaniard ranked 30 places below him, conceding just 11 points on serve to minimise any chance of a boilover.

It was the first meeting between the two and perhaps Almagro will hope it's one of the last, after he failed to make an impact on the Roddick service weapon and failed to hold out the American on his own.

Roddick said he was happy with his form heading into the Nadal test.

"I felt like I played pretty clean today," Roddick said. "Also, he's a guy who takes lots of risk himself. So you can keep it low because he's the one kind of trying to hit the lines and being the aggressor. So I played within the margins today, and hit it well.

"Sometimes when you're not playing well... everything feels a little bit forced. When you play a lot of the matches and kind of play a high level, it feels like everything kind of slows down a little bit. Muscle memory takes over a little bit more, and things kind of just happen. So I think I'm at that stage right now. Unfortunately with tennis you have to start every day and it's a new one. You're playing well, but you still have to go out and do it every day."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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