Nadal rallies vs. Tsonga at Pacific Life tourney Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Rafael Nadal came back to win the final five games and beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday in an intense, crowd-pleasing rematch of their Australian Open semifinal.
Nadal, the defending Indian Wells champion, avenged his lopsided loss in Melbourne with a scrappy 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) 7-5 victory Tuesday in the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open.
After Tsonga, a hard-hitting Frenchman, went up 5-2 in the third set, Nadal held serve the rest of the way and broke Tsonga's serve in the ninth and 11th games to take a 6-5 lead.
With the crowd beginning to cheer even as he set up for the shot, the Spaniard capped the match by slamming an overhead past Tsonga.
The 22-year-old Tsonga, who has vaulted from 212 in the rankings in 2006 to No. 17, upset No. 2 Nadal 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the Australian Open semis before losing to Novak Djokovic in the final.
Tsonga played brilliantly at times in the rematch against the 21-year-old Nadal, but mistakes cost him at other times.
After ending a long rally when both hit several outstanding shots, Tsonga ended it with a drop shot that Nadal somehow managed to hit back, then a bang-bang volley that left Nadal lying on the ground at the end of the point. That brought Tsonga back from a 15-40 deficit to deuce in the 11th game, but he quickly followed that with a double-fault, then hit a forehand long to lose the game.
Driving powerful forehands down the lines, Tsonga had 47 winners overall - but made 56 unforced errors. The far more consistent Nadal finished with 27 winners and 27 unforced errors. Tsonga, who had 18 aces when he stunned Nadal in Australia, had 11 against him at Indian Wells, but also double-faulted seven times.
The match lasted 3 hours, 3 minutes, and the crowd seemed rapt, reacting loudly to practically every point. Some fans yelled "Go, Ali!" a Tsonga nickname alluding to his resemblance to boxing great Muhammad Ali, and others screaming, "You can do it, Rafa!"
In other matches, Djokovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guillermo Canas; Tommy Haas edged Andy Murray 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; and David Nalbandian beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-2.
In a women's quarterfinal, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4.
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posted by Brandon Schenz @ 9:10 PM,
