About Rafa again,,,

ROLAND GARROS 2006
PARIS, FRANCE

June 7, 2006
Nadal On Course for Title Defense

Rafael Nadal Stretches for a Forehand During his Quarterfinal Win over Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal stands two wins away from defending his Roland Garros title following a 6-4, 6-4 ret. victory over Serbian Novak Djokovic (back, thigh) in Wednesday's quarterfinals. The victory was second-seeded Nadal's 58th consecutive clay court match win.

Djokovic converted just nine of 18 break points, while Nadal won 80% of first service points and hit just 13 unforced errors.

Nadal, attempting to become the first man to defend his Roland Garros title since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001, extended his record to 12-0 in Paris and now stands just two wins away from a century of career wins (98-12) on crushed brick.

His last loss on clay came in April 2005, when he lost to eventual champion Igor Andreev 7-5, 6-2 in the Valencia quarterfinals.

Ivan Ljubicic en route to his first Slam semifinal.Nadal, 20, will next meet No. 4 seed Ivan Ljubicic, who fired 13 aces in his 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win against Frenchman Julien Benneteau. Ljubicic, who advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal, jumped all over the Benneteau serve, converting eight of nine break point opportunities and restricting the Frenchman to just 43 percent of first serves won.

Ljubicic came into Roland Garros with a career clay-court winning percent of first serves won.

Ljubicic came into Roland Garros with a career clay-court winning percentage barely above 50 percent (61-53). He had endured four first-round losses in six attempts and his best showing was a third-round appearance n 2003.

The Croatian improved Wednesday to 39-8 on the year and is chasing his third title of the season following wins in Chennai and Zagreb. He had a mixed clay court season before Roland Garros. He reached the quarterfinals at Masters Series Monte-Carlo and led Croatia to victory in the ARAG ATP World Team Championship. But he also suffered a first-round loss at Masters Series Rome and a second-round defeat at Masters Series Hamburg.

This is the first time since 1985 (and just the third time in the Open Era) that the four top seeds at Roland Garros have reached their appointed places in the semifinals. In 1985, John McEnroe (No.1), Ivan Lendl (No.2), Jimmy Connors (No. 3) and Mats Wilander (No. 4) reached the semifinals, just as they had the previous year when they also reached the semifinals, coincidentally while occupying the same four seeding positions.

At all Grand Slams, the last occasion that this happened was at the 2005 Australian Open (No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 2 Andy Roddick, No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 4 Marat Safin). In total, it has now happened 11 times at Grand Slams in the Open Era: 1988 and 2005 Australian Open; 1984, ’85 and 2006 Roland Garros; 1993 and ’95 Wimbledon; 1969, ’82, ’85 and ’92 US Open.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Nadal: "I feel good. I feel with confidence. I play better and better. And I was playing very good maybe in the first set. The worst thing in the game, my game today, I think is the serve. But the rest, good. For me.

"Maybe I am arriving in the semifinals with my best level in the last two weeks, no? So that's the most important thing. And I don't want to think if I am playing better this year or last year. I think this year I am better player, no? But I don't know if I am playing high level this year than last year, no? But I know I am a better player this year."

Djokovic: “I didn't go into the match with a back problem, and I didn't go to the match hundred percent fit. I was trying to make as short as I can the points, to make winners, to be in the control of the match, which I did in some stage, you know. And I'm pretty unhappy that it finished like this because I think that Nadal is for sure the best on this surface, but I was feeling really well on the court, you know, playing wise. I was playing pretty well. I was hitting the ball. I was feeling the ball really well.”

Ljubicic: "I don't think there is any doubt that [Nadal] is a big favorite. I don't think only in the semifinal, but also in the final. I think of four of us left, I think he's definitely the favorite one. Then Roger, then David, then it's me.

"I think just by reaching semifinal, I did something incredible. Absolutely, it's going to be zero pressure on Friday for me. We had the three very close matches, but they were all on the hard court. It's gonna be definitely more difficult to hit an ace on clay than on hard court. But also, I'm gonna have more balls to do something with. Because on the hard court, he is playing much more aggressive. That's what I think.

" There's no tactic against Rafael. I think Roger showed us in Rome the way to give him trouble. He was pretty close. He had two matchpoints. As close as you can get, actually... You cannot be too aggressive, you cannot be too defensive.

"Of course I want to win it. Of course I'm gonna try all I have, all my weapons. And I don't want of course any long rallies. I'm going to try to be aggressive because that's, I think, the way I can hurt him."

Benneteau: "He has an advantage because when he wanted to come back to deuce in a game, he was able to serve first serves at 210 [kph]. But I didn't have this advantage. He was returning well. My serve wasn't bothering him.

"There were many [great memories from the tournament], very super things. Maybe the fact that I won in five sets after being not so good in the fourth set, and winning in the fifth set, it was great. Even the match against Stepanek, every time there were complete matches, physically and mentally. And there were big courts: No. 1, Suzanne Lenglen. It was full, the crowd was with me. Even against Martin, although the match ended a bit strangely and early, it was still a big experience to be in the Round of 16 in the French Open."