Nadal suffers Montreal setback

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:44

Nadal was playing in his first tournament after more than two months on the sidelines with a knee injury, during which time he has seen Roger Federer snatch away both his Wimbledon crown and his status as world number one.

His 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 defeat to Del Potro meant things got even worse for Nadal, who has now lost his number two ranking to Andy Murray.

The Argentinian Del Potro, seeded sixth here, spurned a first opportunity to take the opening set at 5-4 when he dumped a backhand into the net. However, he was not to be denied and prevailed in the tie-break.

He claimed two breaks to go 3-0 up in the second set and took it 6-1 by claiming a third break, the match ending as Nadal, looking a shadow of his usual self and clearly still some way short of his ‘A’ game, sent a two-handed forehand wide.

Andy Roddick will be Del Potro’s semi-final opponent after he beat Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-6 (7/4).

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga battled back from 5-1 down in the deciding set to stun Federer and claim a thrilling victory in their quarter-final.

The Frenchman beat the world number one 7-6 (7/5) 1-6 7-6 (7/3) in two hours and 19 minutes.

Tsonga took the first set on a tie break after saving two break points, but Federer looked on course for victory when he raced through the second for the loss of just one game and moved 5-1 ahead in the third.

The seventh seed dug deep to reel off five straight games though, and had three match points at 6-5 and 40-0 against the Federer serve, only for the Swiss to save them all. Tsonga was not to be denied in the tie-break, as Federer handed him victory with an uncharacteristic double fault.

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