Swede Robin Soderling built on the momentum that allowed him to beat Rafael Nadal and reached the French Open semi-finals yesterday with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 drubbing of Russian 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Soderling will play his first grand slam semi-final against either British world No. 3 Andy Murray or Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, seeded 12th.
The 23rd seeded Soderling, who created one of the biggest upsets in tennis when he handed top seed Nadal his first defeat at Roland Garros in the fourth round, raced through the first set in 23 minutes after Davydenko claimed only 10 points.
PHOTO: AP
He broke twice to take the second and twice in the third. Davydenko bowed out on the second match point after one hour, 41 minutes.
In the women’s singles Dinara Safina came from behind to the semi-finals after beating feisty Belarusian teenager Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The Russian, who had dropped only five games in her first four matches, more than doubled that figure in the 23-minute first set, as the ninth seed gave Safina a taste of her own medicine with some aggressive crosscourt shots.
Safina, seeking her first grand slam title, racked up a double break in the second before being pegged back to 4-4. She broke in the next game and served out the set, leveling the match when Azarenka’s forehand return went long.
The Belarusian threw down her racket in frustration and Safina quickly went a break up in the third. The top seed seized control with another break in the seventh, clinching victory when Azarenka’s service return clipped the net and bounced out
In the women’s doubles top seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of the US beat 10th seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.
In a men’s doubles quarter-final to seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic beat Russian pair Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2.
■NADAL COACH SLAMS FANS
AFP, MADRID
Rafael Nadal’s uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, has called spectators at Roland Garros “stupid” for cheering the world No. 1’s elimination from the event over the weekend.
“I think the Parisian public is so stupid,” he said in an interview with news radio Cadena Ser broadcast late on Monday, a day after Nadal’s four-year Roland Garros reign came to an end at the hands of Sweden’s Robin Soderling.
“The triumph of a Spaniard upsets them. What seems uncalled for is supporting the defeat of someone. It is not a very satisfying way to be happy,” he said.
Nadal crashed to a fourth round 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 defeat to the Swedish 23rd seed.
It was his first ever defeat at Roland Garros after winning all of his 31 matches since his 2005 debut.
“He played very badly and Soderling was better. He was more nervous than usual, lacking confidence and his shots lacked precision,” Toni Nadal said.
In another interview with radio Onda Cero, he said the French “are a bit jealous of the Spanish” because no French player has won Roland Garros since 1983.
“I suppose that it annoys them to see that Spain is constantly producing very good players,” he said.
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