Rafael Nadal battles past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga into the last four – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
World number two, Rafael Nadal of Spain, had to bring out his best to beat sixth seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, in three sets 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinal at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Wednesday.
Last year’s finalist, Nadal, was in complete command for a set and a half but Tsonga came on level terms in the rest of the match. The Spaniard had to fight for almost three hours to come out victorious from the battle.
Nadal grabbed lead from the start, breaking Tsonga in the very first game of the match and consolidating on it to move ahead 2-0. The Spaniard hit a blow again in the fifth game and made the most of the double break to capture
it 6-2.
The second seed was completely dominating the match, striking in the fifth game of the second set and holding his next serve to build a 4-2 lead. However, a little lack of concentration from the Spaniard at 5-4 allowed Tsonga to
claw his way back into the match. The Frenchman broke Nadal’s serve twice and grabbed three straight games to seal it 7-5.
Tsonga and Nadal started to serve brilliantly in the decider, holding their serves in the first eight games and levelling the score at 4-4. The Spaniard claimed a breakthrough in the ninth game to go into the driving seat but it
was looking like, once again, he would fail to serve it out. However, Nadal survived a couple of break points and finally sealed the final set 6-4.
The Spaniard’s serve statistics were average, as he put in 64 percent of the first serves and converted 43 of the 67 of them into points. Nevertheless, the left-hander pressurised Tsonga by responding aggressively to the Frenchman’s
second deliveries, winning incredibly 26 of the 44 points on them.
Nadal will lock horns with fourth seed, Andy Murray of Great Britain, for the final spot. The Brit also faced resistance in his quarterfinal match, rallying to beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advancing
to the last four.
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