الرئيسية
Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after losing a point to
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during their singles tennis match at the
ATP World Tour Finals in the O2 Arena in London November 24, 2011.
REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
By Martyn Herman, Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal bowed out of the ATP World Tour
Finals Thursday as for the second time in 48 hours, the Spaniard had no
answer against an inspired opponent, this time in the imposing form of
French powerhouse Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
While Roger Federer's
thrashing of Nadal was a masterful demonstration of the sport's
classical arts, Tsonga's 6-7 4-6 6-3 victory in the final match of Group
B was a sustained barrage of heavy artillery that eventually
overwhelmed the former world number one.
Tsonga, 26, joined group
winner Federer in the semi-finals after the Swiss maintained his 100
percent record with a 6-1 3-6 6-3 defeat of American Mardy Fish in a
dead rubber.
Defeat extended Nadal's mediocre record at the season-ender.
In the five years he has qualified he has only made the final once, losing to Federer at the O2 Arena last year.
This
year he never looked like adding the prestigious title to his 10 grand
slams from the opening day when he laboured past tournament debutant
Fish in three sets.
"I think I didn't play well tonight," the
25-year-old, who since winning the French Open for a sixth time in June
has not won another title, told reporters.
"The first two sets I
didn't play bad, but I didn't play well, and to win these kind of
matches you have to play well. I played without anything special
tonight."
While Nadal was clearly disappointed with the level of
his performance it would be harsh to take anything away from Tsonga who
produced one of the best performances of his career to reach the
semi-finals of the event for the first time.
"Tonight, I just
played amazing tennis," Tsonga told reporters, adding that he spent the
day before the match looking at the video of his run to the Australian
Open final in 2008 when he also beat Nadal.
"I was looking at
that and I thought, 'Wow!' Before I had lots of energy and I was running
faster, hitting harder, but I was crazy on court. This year, maybe I've
improved this, but I'm better in my head."
Crunching huge
groundstrokes off both wings and storming the net to pound down smashes
and some silky volleys, Tsonga continually worried the Nadal serve
without being able to engineer the break his play deserved.
Nadal hung on but Tsonga produced a superb tiebreak, moving 6-2 ahead before sealing the set with an ace.
The
second set was a similar story, although this time Tsonga suffered a
brief dip in the 10th game and Nadal pounced on his fourth set point to
set up a late-night decider in front of an enthralled 17,500-capacity
crowd.
The majority inside the cavernous arena would have
expected Nadal to complete the comeback but as he later put it, the
third set turned into a "disaster" for the Mallorcan.
Tsonga
broke Nadal's serve at 1-1 when his drop volley proved elusive for the
Spaniard and he repeated the trick to forge into a 5-2 lead. Three
double faults halted his charge to the finish line but Nadal surrendered
his serve, and the match, cheaply in the next game.
"The third
set was disaster," Nadal, who still has the consolation of a Davis Cup
final next weekend against Argentina, said. "He's dangerous player. Best
of luck for him. Jo deserved it more than me."
The composition
of the semi-finals will become clear on Friday when world number one
Novak Djokovic takes on fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer,
who is already assured a last-four berth, faces Tomas Berdych.
Defending
champion Federer warmed up for the semis with a one hour 47 minute
workout against weary American Fish who gave a spirited display despite
already being knocked out after defeats against Nadal and Tsonga.
Fans
with expensive day session tickets must have feared the worst when
Federer cruised through the first set in half and hour but they were
given value for money as Fish made a match of it thereafter.
"Bottom
line is I'm going away 0-3, which is hard but I had a great experience
just being part of this," said Fish. "It gives me a lot of ammunition to
come back next year."
Federer is now just two wins away from a
record sixth title at the season-ender, moving ahead of the five he
shares with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ian Ransom)