The Hindu : Sport : Nadal to clash with Djokovic

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Nadal to clash with Djokovic

FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS: Rafael Nadal beat Carlos Moya in the battle of the Spaniards. — Photo: AP

PARIS: Rafael Nadal moved effortlessly to within two wins of emulating Bjorn Borg's mark of three successive French Open titles when he mercilessly dismissed fellow Spaniard and close friend Carlos Moya on Wednesday.

Double defending champion Nadal took his career Roland Garros record to 19 wins in 19 matches with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 win which put him into a semifinal showdown with Serbian dangerman Novak Djokovic.

Watched by Hollywood star and fellow Spaniard Antonio Banderas, Wednesday's quarterfinal was no action thriller but a comedy of errors for 1998 champion Moya who wilted under Nadal's greater power and variety.

Subdued start

In a subdued opening, Nadal struck first to lead 3-2 but Moya levelled straightaway when his opponent unleashed a loose drop shot which the 30-year-old pounced upon with a vicious forehand.

Moya, playing for the 12th time at Roland Garros, then came up with a sloppy service game to allow Nadal to go 4-3 up. Nadal didn't allow Moya a second opportunity and snatched the opening set after 48 minutes.

A double fault by the error-strewn Moya handed Nadal the first break of the second set in the third game for a 2-1 lead which soon became 3-1, courtesy a confident Nadal service game.

The champion broke a dispirited and bemused Moya in the ninth game to claim the second set.

Moya, down and almost out, quickly slipped to 0-4 in the third set. It soon became 0-5 as Nadal held his serve at love.

Moya saved a match point in the sixth game but a double fault, the veteran's third of the tie, gave Nadal another match point which he converted with a big forehand.

Aggressive

Meanwhile, Djokovic reached his first Grand Slam semifinal by beating Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

The 20-year-old, the youngest player left in the men's draw, will be the fourth Serb to feature in the last four with compatriots Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic already in the semi-finals of the women's singles.

Another Serb Nenad Zimonjic has made it into the semi-final in the men's doubles.

``I was aggressive from the start and that was the key,'' Djokovic said. ``The result is not showing the right picture about the match — it was not easy to play Andreev. He's the kind of player who makes you work for points, he produces a lot of spin.''

Djokovic leapt in the air when he went up 3-0 in the third set. The 125th-ranked Andreev could not find a way back, and Djokovic won on his first match point when Andreev hit a forehand into the net — one of many similar errors he made during the match.

``You keep winning matches, so you think you can do it,'' Andreev said. ``Unfortunately, it didn't happen today and I couldn't reach the semifinal. But I don't think it will be my last quarterfinal.''

Andreev said Djokovic was strong across the board. ``He has no bad shots. He does everything very well,'' Andreev said. ``Defending very well, serving very well. Mentally he is so strong for a young age.''

Djokovic, 20, took command early, winning five straight games from 3-3 in the first set to go 2-0 up in the second.

Incidentally, Djokovic beat Andreev on clay at Estoril (Portugal) last month and went on to win the tournament — one of three titles the Serbian has won this season.

Federer vs. Davydenko

Roger Federer will take a perfect 8-0 career record into his French Open semifinal clash against Nikolay Davydenko after the dramatically contrasting players moved into the last four on Tuesday.

Federer dropped a Grand Slam set for the first time since the 2006 U.S. Open final but still powered through to his third successive Roland Garros semifinal with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Tommy Robredo.

The top seed overcame the rare second set lapse to romp to his eighth consecutive win over the Spanish ninth seed.

Federer will now take on Russian fourth seed Davydenko who beat Guillermo Canas, the 19th seeded Argentinian, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 for a place in the semifinal. ``Davydenko is a great player and I've had great matches against him,'' said Federer who was no doubt happy not to be facing Canas who has been responsible for two of his four defeats in 2007.

``Nikolay has made great headway in recent years.''

``It's never easy to play Tommy especially on clay, it's his favourite surface,'' said Federer.

``Sadly I had too many errors in the second set but overall it was a good test.

``It was very windy in the second set. He was solid and hit his forehand really well. I hit it too flat and I didn't use the wind to my advantage.

``I couldn't react to it but I got a good start in the third set and I was on a roll again.''

Worryingly for Federer's rivals, that key third set was wrapped up in just 20 minutes.

Positive approach

Davydenko reached his second French Open semifinal by seeing off Canas who had been hoping to crown his comeback from a 15-month drug ban by reaching the Roland Garros final.

``I was surprised we played such a long first set,'' said Davydenko.

``I thought we might not finish it until tomorrow but I prayed that I could win in three sets.''

On Tuesday, he and Canas slugged out a 70-minute first set which took the heart out of the Argentinian as Davydenko was rewarded for his aggressively positive approach. He ended the quarterfinal having hit a huge 64 unforced errors but an equally telling 62 winners. — Agencies

Prefix denotes seeding

Men's singles: Quarterfinals: 2-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt 23-Carlos Moya (Esp) 6-4, 6-3, 6-0; 6-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Igor Andreev (Rus) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Men's doubles: Quarterfinals: Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt 2-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) & Max Mirnyi (Blr) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(6).

Mixed doubles: Quarterfinals: Sun Tiantian (Chn) & Julian Knowle (Aut) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) & Leander Paes (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.

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