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10/7/11 4:13 PM | Ricky Dimon
Rafael Nadal holds off Santiago Giraldo in straight sets on Friday in Tokyo. Nadal is now set for a semifinal showdown against familiar foe Mardy Fish, who ousted Bernard Tomic.
Rafael Nadal booked a spot in the Japan Open semifinals by battling past Santiago Giraldo 7-6(3), 6-3 after two hours and two minutes of play on Friday afternoon. Nadal cracked five aces without double-faulting and survived a grueling first set before pulling away from his underdog opponent.
A tight opening frame saw no breaks of serve, although both players ran into some minor trouble. Nadal found himself trailing 0-30 at 3-4, but he promptly won four straight points to hold. Having missed a small opportunity, Giraldo fell behind 15-40 at 4-4 but he saved the only two break points of the set--one with an ace and another with arguably his biggest forehand of the day. A tiebreaker ensued and after giving away an early mini-break--and all of a 3-0 lead--Nadal pulled it out 8-6.
Giraldo seemed to be on the fast track to elimination when a flurry of errors led to the first break of the day and sent Nadal ahead 2-0. The 53rd-ranked Colombian, however, struck back out of nowhere for 1-2. A third consecutive break, though, went to Nadal and he consolidated the advantage from there. The top seed survived a deuce game at 4-2 and fended off one break point at 5-3 before clinching victory.
Next up for Nadal is Mardy Fish, who overcame Bernard Tomic 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1. Fish fired 10 aces, won 80 percent of his first-serve points, and abused Tomic's second serves by winning 26 of those 38 points as he erased an early deficit.
Amidst blustery conditions, Tomic was content to just keep the ball in play and that was enough to take a tense opening set. The 19-year-old Aussie threw away a set point on his own serve at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but a crafty drop-shot helped him earn a decisive mini-break at 6-5.
Nonetheless, the success was short-lived and Fish took control the rest of the way. The eighth-ranked American faced no break points throughout the remainder of the match, dropping only 11 service points in sets two and three. One break in the second and three in the third were more than enough for Fish to advance.
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I was surprised at how well Giraldo played, he should be proud of himself.
nadline , 10/7/11 6:14 PM
I'm not surprised. If you've watched him played last year at Rome against Ferrero, you'll know how scary his forehand was. As I've mentioned before, he blew Ferrero off the court and the scoreline was quite embarrassing for Ferrero. Ferrero was playing well then, having reached the QF at MC. From then onwards, I've watched out for this guy. However he was quite up and down in his game, as sometimes he tend to be rash and goes for broke. Rafa did beat him on clay this year at Barcelona, comfortably. Back then Rafa was playing aggressively the whole tournament, beating everyone in straight sets( should see how well he played against Monfils in that tournament). In fact that was the best tournament Rafa had played this year. And that's why I said if Rafa played more aggressively today, he'll most likely beat Giraldo sooner than he did.
luckystar , 10/7/11 6:29 PM
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Mardy Fish 
Bernard Tomic 
Santiago Giraldo 
Giraldo: "Today was the fourth time I played him. It was the best match I played. It was close in the first set and I had some chances in the second."
RickyDimon , 10/7/11 4:41 PM