Nadal beats Wawrinka and moves into Monte Carlo semis

Defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain won his 40th consecutive match at the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters as he defeated the Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 7-5  6-4 and booked his place in Saturday’s semis.

Nadal, who lifted this trophy on 7 previous occasions, started the first set with a quick break. Wawrinka tried to come to the net and finish off the rallies earlier, which gave him a re-break as he levelled the set at 4-4. But this court is sacred place for the Spaniard, probably his most loved one (after Roland Garros) and he showed it by taking Wawrinka’s serve to go 6-5 up before serving out the set.

An already pumped up Nadal repeated the early break in set 2 and Wawrinka’s chances seemed to be fading away. The world no.2 stepped up his game even more and didn’t allow his opponent a single break point opportunity to close out the set and sail to victory.

Nadal will play the Frenchman Gilles Simon in the semifinals.

 

Tags gilles simon Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Monte Carlo Masters Rafael Nadal Stanislas Wawrinka tennis news