Rafa finishes with a flourish

Although 2nd seed Rafael Nadal had won his past 9 matches against 7th seed Tomas Berdych, history mattered little for the Czech player as he interrupted the momentum of the Spanish champion at every opportunity with his big serving and accurate ground strokes.  A number of aces and unplayable serves prevented Rafa from gaining the rhythm with which he can create so much havoc.  Still, enough room was left for Nadal to ply his craft at least to the point of holding his own serve,  precarious at times though it may  have been.

A first set tie break topped off a first set full of high standard tennis, and a contest far exceeding the quarter final owned earlier by Roger.  Players held serve to 4-3 before Rafa stole a point from the tall Czech and had two points off his own racquet to seal the set.  Tomas won both of those and then another to have set point on his serve, a swift change in fortune, within it containing a challenge to an out ball from Berdych disallowed by the chair umpire.  Deemed too late a challenge, Rafa fumed and I feared for the umpire's immediate health but luckily only Nadal's eyes directed physical harm to the gentleman.

Tomas gratefully tucked the set away 7-6 in his tennis bag, and after a short interlude for players to reflect and replenish, he wandered out onto the court once more, making certain not to pass too close to Rafa in the process.

The second set gave chances to Nadal to even up the match when he broke the Berdych serve, and for a time, his game approached a level of consistency associated with him.  At 5-3 and serving for the set, Nadal inexplicably was broken, and one more a tiebreak ultimately decided the fate.  Nadal, as in the first set tiebreak gained the ascendancy, leading 4-1, only to lose the advantage again.  Berdych missed a chance to convert a set point, and it was left to Rafa to prevail 8 points to 6.

The match was a set apiece and we had been going almost two and a half hours.

The standard of the match as already mentioned, was high - Berdych had not ceased in his endeavours to hit every serve into the next postcode, and his down the line winners appeared to be no less frequent.  Rafa had performed enough of his magic to suggest that the remainder of this match would be something to remember from the quarter final stage of the 2012 Aus Open.

Berdych out of the blue broke Rafa in the third set to lead 2-0, and as if someone flicked a switch, the number two seed proceeded to put on a 2 set performance to make Roger Federer choke a little on his brandy while he sat back in his comfortable chair watching these two battle to determine his semi final opponent.

The break back was both immediate and comprehensive, leaving Berdych impotent to react with any purpose.  Rafa wielded his racquet with all the skill and artistry that is his hallmark and Tomas, while maintaining a good level of tennis himself, became secondary at times to the work of the Spaniard.  A second break of serve was all that Nadal required to parcel up the third set 6-4 and make things especially difficult now for Berdych if he wished to make it further in the tournament.

Berdych did most things pretty well in the fourth set, but just could not keep the pace with Nadal who treated us to an hour of wondrous tennis, perhaps of a quality unequalled at the Open to this stage.  He ran faster to everything, reached balls that were never meant to have been caught, let alone turned in to Spanish winners, structured points immaculately, and essentially owned the court he played on.  His tenant from the Czech Republic just had to play out the match and applaud the master class.

It had taken four and a quarter hours to decide a semi finalist from this terrific match, but what placed the contest at the top of the heap had less to do with its longevity and more to do with the fact that the tennis being played at the finish was better than at any other point of the match.  Credit to both players.
 
Nadal 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-3 will meet Federer and I guess we might find some takers for tickets to that semi.