Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put Rafael Nadal's comeback on ice and reached his first Shanghai Masters final with a thrilling 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 victory on Saturday.
The mercurial Frenchman recovered from an embarrassing 6-0 “bagel” in the second set to edge a thrilling decider, highlighted by his athletic diving volley to bring up match point.
The frustrated Nadal completely misread a backhand to give Tsonga the win, as the Spaniard narrowly failed to reach his second final in seven days after he was runner-up last week in Beijing.
Although Nadal will take encouragement from reaching the semis, after slipping to seventh in the rankings in a disappointing year, Tsonga will now celebrate one of his biggest wins of the season.
In Sunday's final he will play either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray, with the world Nos 1 and 2 set to play their blockbuster semi-final later.
At a packed Qi Zhong Stadium, Nadal slipped and fell in the very first game to hand Tsonga break points, and he misfired a routine smash in the fifth to give the Frenchman another opportunity.
The Spaniard’s serve had not been broken all week and it took a shot for the ages from Tsonga, who sent back a towering Nadal forehand with interest for a smoking backhand winner.
Tsonga buried a huge crosscourt forehand as he fended off break points in the eighth game, and he didn’t hang around in his next service game which he won to love to take a one-set lead.
But Tsonga was all at sea in the second set and with double-faults at critical moments, Nadal broke three times to ‘bagel’ the Frenchman 6-0 and level the match.
Tsonga rediscovered his form for a tight deciding set and although he was unable to convert three break points in the third game, he finally broke for 6-5 when Nadal fired into the net.
Serving for the match, Tsonga dived full-length for a forehand volley and then got up to parry the scrambling Nadal’s reply and bring up match point, which the Spaniard lost tamely.
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