Nadal takes Monte Carlo streak to 40

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rafael Nadal's incredible reign on the clay of Monte Carlo continued as he extended his winning run to 40 matches with a quarter-final win over Stanislas Wawrinka.

The Spaniard, playing this week despite concerns over his long-running knee problem, is chasing an eighth straight title and improved his record against the Swiss to 8-0. Nadal was rarely troubled as he secured a 7-5 6-4 win to lay on a semi-final meeting with the in-form Gilles Simon.

"Yesterday and today I improved a level," Nadal told www.atpworldtour.com. "Today was a difficult match. I had respect for the opponent before the match. He arrived playing great having had a fantastic victory yesterday."

"I am happy about the way I played and that I`m in the semi-finals. That`s fantastic news for me. I`m just looking forward to playing a good match tomorrow," he said.

That match will be against home favourite Simon, who emerged victorious from an all-French battle with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Like Nadal, he won 7-5 6-4.

In the other half of the draw, Novak Djokovic secured his place in the semi-finals with a win over Robin Haase in a topsy-turvy match.

The world number one exchanged several breaks of serve with Haase, but his experience came through as he won 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 17 minutes.

The Serbian looked on form in the early stages, with two breaks of serve giving him a 4-1 lead in the opening set. His Dutch opponent responded with two breaks of his own to pull the scores level, but another break in game 10 handed Djokovic the advantage.

The second set followed a similar pattern as Djokovic raced into a 4-0 lead, only for Haase to pull a break back in game five when the top seed put a forehand wide. The pair traded further breaks in games six and seven, but Djokovic wrapped up the set in the eighth when Haase fired into the net.

The top seed will now face Tomas Berdych in the last four after the Czech ended Andy Murray's challenge following a lengthy tussle.

 

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