|
Federer battles into semis
25/04/2008 16:16 - (SA)
Monte Carlo - World number one Roger Federer survived a brutal first set assault to beat Argentine sixth seed David Nalbandian 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and reach the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals on Friday.
The top seed, the runner-up to triple champion Rafael Nadal for the past two years, goes on to face either third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia or America's Sam Querrey for a place in Sunday's final.
The win was Federer's ninth in 17 career meetings with the muscular Nalbandian who had won their last two encounters.
Serve dominated the first 10 games until Nalbandian, consistently finding the angles, broke to lead 6-5 which he converted into a one-set advantage on a third set point when Federer hit a backhand wide.
Nipped ahead again
It was an impressive performance by the 26-year-old Nalbandian who didn't face a break point in the first set.
However, he soon cracked to trail 0-2 in the second set before hitting back immediately.
Federer, who was two points away from defeat in his opening match with Spain's world 137 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, nipped ahead again to lead 4-2 and held on to back it up to go 5-2.
He broke the Argentinian for the third time in the set to level the quarter-final when Nalbandian went long with a tame forehand.
Federer piled on the pressure in the decider and broke to lead 4-2 when his opponent netted an awkward volley from a return which landed at his toes.
Another supremely confident service game followed to put the top seed ahead at 5-2.
Victory arrived in the next game on his first match point courtesy of a swooping crosscourt forehand winner with Federer reaping the reward for a daring fightback which saw him hit 43 winners to Nalbandian's 27.
Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko reached his fifth semi-final of 2008 with a gruelling 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Davis Cup teammate Igor Andreev.
Davydenko, who has already won the Miami Masters title this season, will now take on either triple defending champion Rafael Nadal or David Ferrer for a place in Sunday's final.
'I fought back'
But his 2hr 45min win on Friday was desperately mediocre with Davydenko losing his serve seven times and Andreev suffering nine breaks.
In a brutal summary of the tie, Davydenko sent down 61 unforced errors to Andreev's 54.
"I fought back in the first set and played very well but in the second set he changed tactics, tried to play more slowly, hitting no winners and just tried to keep the ball in court," said Davydenko.
"But I came back from 3-5 in the last set. Then he came back to 5-5 and I was 0-40 on my serve so maybe I got lucky."
Defending champion Nadal, who is hoping to be the first man since 1914 to win four Monte Carlo titles in a row, faces Spanish compatriot Ferrer, the fifth seed.
Nadal has a Monte Carlo record of 21 wins in 22 matches and has won 95 of his last 96 claycourt ties in the last three years.
- AFP
|
