Big-serving Marin Cilic produced a major upset by routing Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the China Open yesterday.
The eighth-seeded Croat cruised through 6-1, 6-3 against the world No. 2 Spaniard, setting up a final against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who downed Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-3.
In the women’s competition, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova, 6-1, 6-3, to move into the final against 12th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who downed France’s Marion Bartoli, 6-4, 6-3.
PHOTO: EPA
Cilic broke Nadal’s serve twice in the first set, racing to a 5-0 lead as the Spaniard struggled to respond to the 21-year-old’s booming serve and aggressive returns. All but two of Cilic’s eight aces came in the first set, helping him to a first-serve percentage of 83.
He continued to baffle Nadal in the second set, breaking serve in the first game and again in the sixth, wrecking Nadal’s timing and outpacing him with his groundstrokes.
“From the beginning of the match until the end I didn’t let my level of play drop and definitely I came into the match really good,” Cilic said. “I was aggressive when I had to be.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Despite losing all three of his previous matches against Djokovic, the Croat said he would enter the final with renewed confidence.
Cilic’s strategy clearly worked and Nadal said he’d felt under the gun throughout the match.
“I’ve got nothing to say about the beginning of the match. He was serving unbelievably and his returning was very fast and playing winners all the time,” Nadal said. “The worst thing for me was that when I had a little bit of a chance to come back to the match I didn’t play very well either.”
PHOTO: AFP
Djokovic broke Soderling in the first game and after double faulting on deuce at 4-3, fired three consecutive aces to hold serve and went on to take the set.
Soderling took a 2-0 lead in the second set before Djokovic broke back to level at 2-2. Djokovic broke Soderling’s serve again at 4-3 and then served out the match with an ace.
“I assure you that it was a lot more difficult because he’s a big server, a big hitter and he was very aggressive throughout the whole match,” world No. 2 Djokovic said. “So I was very patient and I waited for my chances that were given to me and I used them at the right time.”
“I tried to get as many returns as possible in the court to make him play an extra shot. And that’s what I did extremely well,” he said.
Kuznetsova had little difficulty dispatching Petrova, who had ground through three-set battles with Serena Williams and China’s Peng Shuai to get to the semi-finals.
“I tried to move her around. I knew it was her weakness,” said Kuznetsova, the women’s sixth seed and winner of the 2006 China Open.
■JAPAN OPEN
REUTERS, TOKYO
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga powered to a quick-fire 6-3 6-3 win over fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils yesterday to reach the Japan Open final.
Mikhail Youzhny stands between the world No. 7 and a third title of year after the Russian’s 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 victory over eighth seed Lleyton Hewitt in the first semi-final.
“I felt like I had so much power,” second seed Tsonga told reporters after hammering his close friend in less than an hour. “I was able to do anything I wanted.”
“The last time I felt like that was in Marseille at the beginning of the year,” said Tsonga, who has yet to secure a place in the season-ending World Tour Finals in London, exclusive to the world’s top eight. “Tomorrow is going to be very tough. Youzhny has beaten some good players but I expect to play aggressive again.”
Tsonga broke through in the fourth game of the first set courtesy of an athletic forehand volley and fourth seed Monfils had no answer to his opponent’s superior firepower.
The second set followed a similar pattern, Tsonga charging the net to put away another sharp volley and go ahead 5-3, and he ended proceedings with his ninth ace after just 55 minutes.
Youzhny, who beat defending champion Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals, overpowered Hewitt in a one-sided opening set.
He saved three break points at 4-4 in the second with two astonishing running backhands down the line and a superb volley off a fierce Hewitt return.
Youzhny suddenly went off the boil, however, blasting a backhand long to gift Hewitt a break in the 11th game, and the Australian leveled the match with a whipped forehand winner.
The deciding set went with serve until Youzhny broke to clinch victory with a backhand slice into the corner that a scrambling Hewitt could only dump into the net.
“It’s the best tennis I’ve played for a long time,” said Youzhny, who shot to prominence after coming back from two sets down in the decisive rubber to win the 2002 Davis Cup final for Russia against France.
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