Tsonga broke Nadal’s serve in the fifth game and then served out to wrap up the opening set although the Spaniard hit back in brutal fashion to take the match to a decider. He’s even beating the top players again.
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Nadal continued to impress as he was composed and consistent against the Swiss, but Wawrinka was very poor, especially in the closing stages of the clash.
Novak Djokovic produced an inspired display to thrash a chastened Andy Murray 6-1 6-3 and reach the final of the Shanghai Masters. But the character the Scot showed would be too little, too late as Djokovic sublimely clinched the lone point standing between him and the final.
Nadal displayed more signs of a return to top form with a ruthless 6-2, 6-1 hammering of Wawrinka.
Losses to Dustin Brown at Wimbledon and Italy’s Fabio Fognini on three different occasions only dented his confidence further.
“Being in the semifinals is a great result for me”, said Nadal.
Djokovic, who has now won 72 matches this season and will vie for his ninth title of 2015 against Tsonga on Sunday, said: “Whenever we play against each other, it’s always exciting”.
The fourth-seeded Wawrinka was clearly not at his best. The French Open champion missed wildly on his groundstrokes, finishing with 34 unforced errors. Like Murray, Tsonga goes into the match having won their most recent encounter, also at the Canadian Open past year.
“Today, I felt that I was not playing with as much nerves when I am on court”, Nadal told the ATP website (www.atpworldtour.com). “It’s that simple”, he said. “It’s that simple. Against Nadal you can not do anything if you’re not 100 per cent”.
The Aussie was in control of the first set, taking it to a tie break when Djokovic regained control winning 7-6,6-1.
The Spaniard threatened briefly in the final game by forcing a couple of deuces, but Djokovic was simply too accurate, too confident, too good on this, one of his favourite and most successful courts.
Djokovic will play the victor of Friday’s final quarterfinal between Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych.
Venus Williams took just an hour to secure her place in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open Friday in a 6-1, 6-1 victory against a lacklustre Alize Cornet.
“It’s going to be a tough match, but I look forward to it”.
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But he said the victory wasn’t as easy as the score suggested against a player he has now faced 45 times – the longest rivalry in men’s tennis history.
