Reuters
Indian Wells, March 19: Fourth seed Rafa Nadal survived a few anxious moments before booking his place in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open with a see-sawing 6-4, 6-3 victory over Japanese Kei Nishikori here Friday.
The Spanish left-hander, a three-times champion here, will next meet top-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, who battled past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(7-2) 7-6(7-2) in the last of the quarterfinals. Djokovic, the World No.1 and defending champion, improved his stellar record for the year to 20-1 as he seeks a fifth title at Indian Wells Garden.
Nadal fought back from 1-3 down and 15-40 on serve in the opening set, then held off a late fightback by Nishikori in the second to prevail after a little more than 90 minutes.
“The first set was very important,” Nadal said in a courtside interview with ESPN. “At 15-40 for one double break for him, that was the key moment and after that I started to play with higher balls, slower balls. I changed a little bit the rhythm of the match and I think I played well.”
After levelling at 4-4 in the first set, Nadal won the next five games to take command before his fifth-seeded opponent clawed his way back with a break in the seventh to trail 3-4.
Nadal, however, immediately regained his advantage in the eighth game after Nishikori netted a backhand, and the Spaniard served out for the victory, ending the match with a forehand winner down the line.
Djokovic delivered his usual blend of brilliant defence and precise shot-making to wear down an error-prone Tsonga in a match that lasted just over two hours.
The Serb failed to close out the first set when he served at 5-4, but dominated the tie-break as the Frenchman paid the price for a typically high-risk strategy.
Though Tsonga broke Djokovic in the third game of the second set, the Serb immediately levelled at 2-2 before going on to lead 5-4. The Frenchman saved two match points in the 10th game with booming forehands to take the set into another tie-break but again lost momentum with erratic play and the match ended when he blasted a forehand service return wide.
“The experience, the self-belief and knowing that I have done it before… helps to get the engines going,” said Djokovic, who benefited from Tsonga’s 47 unforced errors. “I really try to do well in the moments when the match is going to be decided.”