WIMBLEDON (England), Jul 6 (AP): Rafael Nadal was back to his best Friday, playing at Wimbledon for the fifth consecutive day and reaching the semifinals by beating No 7 Tomas Berdych 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-2.
Nadal, last year's runner-up, was broken once early in the first set, but never faced any serious challenges after that. He broke the Czech in the opening games of the second and third sets.
Nadal had his first match point on Berdych's serve at 5-1 in the third set, but the Czech erased it with an ace. Nadal wasted another in the next game, but won when Berdych sent a forehand into the net.
The second-seeded Spaniard was stretched to five sets in the previous two rounds, with the former being played over a span of three days at the All England Club. If he wins Saturday's semifinal against Novak Djokovic or Marcos Baghdatis, then Sunday's final would mark Nadal's seventh consecutive day on court.
Later Friday, four-time defending champion Roger Federer was to resume his quarterfinal match against No. 20 Juan Carlos Ferrero. The two played for 37 minutes Thursday before rain suspended play at deuce at 5-5 in the first set.
No 3 Andy Roddick was also scheduled to play No 12 Richard Gasquet, and No 4 Djokovic was facing No 10 Baghdatis.
Nadal reaches semifinals at Wimbledon
FE Team | Published: July 07, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like