Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning against Chilean player Fernando Gonzalez in their quarterfinal match of the 2009 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in New York, September 12, 2009. Nadal won 7-6, 7-6, 6-0.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the Men's Singles Quarterfinals match on day thirteen of the 2009 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 12, 2009 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Nadal defeated Gonzalez 7-6 (7), 7-6 (7), 6-0.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Fernando Gonzalez of Chile returns a shot to Rafael Nadal of Spain during the Men's Singles Quarterfinals match on day thirteen of the 2009 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 12, 2009 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Nadal defeated Gonzalez 7-6 (7), 7-6 (7), 6-0.
By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press
Nadal resumes, and advances in a breeze at US Open
Rafael Nadal took advantage of an embarrassing collapse by No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez at the U.S. Open on Saturday to put away his rain-delayed quarterfinal 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-0.
Next up for Nadal is a semifinal Sunday against No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro. Any concerns about Rafa and his sore abdominal muscles being overtaxed heading into a weekend made longer because of the rain have all but vanished.
Kind of like Gonzalez's game.
A match that had been a taut, well-played affair got postponed Thursday night with Nadal leading 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker. They had to wait out an entire day of rain before coming back to the court to resume under overcast skies and temperatures in the 60s.
This was not more of the same.
Gonzalez opened the tiebreaker by spraying three forehands out, then pounded Nadal's serve into the net on set point. He lost two more points to start the third set before finally getting on the board. But after dropping the first game, the Chilean chucked his racket toward his chair en route to the changeover.
It kept getting worse, and even a medical timeout to have tape cut off his ankles couldn't stop this slide.
Final numbers: 59 unforced errors for Gonzalez, and Nadal won 31 of the 43 points played after the restart. The whole affair took 33 minutes to wrap up.
"Fernando had a few more mistakes than the last day," Nadal said. "That helped me a little more."
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credit photo: Gettyimages
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