Rafael Nadal brushed aside an error-stricken Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-1, to book a showdown with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
The quarter-final victory is Nadal’s 300th win in a Masters tournament. The Spaniard outclassed the current French Open champion throughout the match as Wawrinka struggled to find his form during a nightmare experience for the Swiss player.
As the match got underway both players experienced minor blips as they held their opening service games, trying to find their rhythm. Nadal had a chance to break for a 2-0 lead but squandered it after hitting the ball far beyond the baseline. The nine-time French Open champion was more fortunate in the sixth game as he opened up a 40-15 lead against Wawrinka’s serve. As Nadal dominated the rallies, he forced the Swiss to produce an unforced error as he moved ahead to 4-2. The tennis produced from Nadal during the opening set was some of his best as his powerful forehand shots overwhelmed his opponent. Wawrinka’s first service in percentage was poor (44%) which allowed Nadal to apply pressure onto his second. This resulted in Nadal breaking once more to take the first set as Wawrinka produced his 17th unforced error during a poor game from the Swiss. Nadal was fully in control against a growling agitated Wawrinka.
As the errors continued to fly off of Wawrinka’s racket, Nadal converted an early break to claim his sixth consecutive game to lead by a set and 2-0. The Spaniard came close to dropping his serve for the first time of the match during the third game as Wawrinka battled to grab a break point chance to keep him in contention. The French Open champion wasted it by hitting a powerful backhand shot wide. Despite trailing, Wawrinka strangely kept moving along quickly, allowing little time between his points as his shot making became more erratic. Wawrinka narrowly avoided being bageled by finally getting a game, but it was too little too late. If Wawrinka had not won that game, it would of been the heaviest loss in his entire career. After just over an hour on the court, Nadal took the match with a shot down the line to force his below-par opponent to return it out.
Despite only producing 1 ace, 13 winners and 14 unforced errors. Nadal’s statistics were far greater than Wawrinka who produced 3 aces, 14 winners and 34 unforced errors. To put Wawrinka’s unforced error count into context. 55% of points won by Nadal during the match were due to an unforced error from the Swiss player (not counting his three double faults).
In the last four Nadal will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Frenchman survived a marathon match again South Africa’s Kevin Anderson by taking the match 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4, after two hours and forty-three minutes on the court. Throughout the match both players were exceptional on their serve by dropping their service game just once. During the first set tiebreaker Tsonga was forced to save three set points before taking a closely fought opening set.
The Frenchman crumbled at a crucial moment during the second set. Serving at 5-6 Anderson broke in the final game of the second set to force the match into a decider. During the second set, Tsonga was only able to win 43% of his second service points (6/14).
Despite the second set disappointment Tsonga got his revenge early in the final set as he broke the world No.10 for the first time in the match to lead 2-1. In Tsonga’s two following service games Anderson had opportunities to break back but failed to convert as the Frenchman held his nerve to grab the win and progress to his first Masters semifinals since the 2014 Rogers Cup.
It will be the first time that Nadal has played Tsonga since the 2013 Monte Carlo Masters. The 8th seed currently leads the head-to-head 8-3 against the Frenchman.
