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PARIS: Triple champion Rafael Nadal celebrated his 22nd birthday in
devastating style when he crushed hapless compatriot Nicolas Almagro
to set up a French Open semifinal blockbuster against Novak Djokovic.
Nadal swamped 19th seed Almagro 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in
the most one-sided last eight match in Roland Garros history to move
two wins closer to joining Bjorn Borg as the only man to win four
successive Roland Garros titles.
Third seed Djokovic saw off childhood friend
Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 to reach a fifth
consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.
Tuesday’s win was Nadal’s 26th in 26 career
matches at Roland Garros. He has yet to drop a set in the tournament
and has been taken past six games only once.
In five matches played he has dropped just 25
games, the fewest conceded by any player at any Grand Slam in the
Open era.
“Before the match I thought it would be tough
because Nicolas has a very good serve and forehand but his problem
is movement,” said Nadal.
“On center court, it’s not easy because of
the wind and it’s also very big so it’s hard to adapt if you are
not used to it. But he made a lot of mistakes. I controlled the
points and I was feeling the ball better.
“Now I will face Djokovic and that will be a
very tough match. I beat him in the Hamburg semifinal but it was
close. However, I feel as if I am improving and have got better and
better.”
Australian Open champion Djokovic and Gulbis
first trained together as youngsters at the Munich academy owned by
former Germany and Croatia Davis Cup coach Niki Pilic and have been
firm friends ever since.
With a little more composure, 19-year-old Gulbis,
bidding to become the first Latvian to reach a Grand Slam semifinal,
could have pulled off a famous win, but his 60 unforced errors told
a sorry story.
“I knew he would be aggressive and go for his
shots. I needed to be patient and just calm his game down,” said
Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in the semifinals here.
“It’s tricky to play against a close friend.
He made some unforced errors at crucial times and the rain helped me
a lot because it slowed the courts down and made his serve a little
less effective.”
-- AFP
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