Chilean Fernando Gonzalez shattered Rafael Nadal's Australian Open dreams with a dazzling 6-2 6-4 6-3 victory yesterday to reach the semifinals of a grand slam for the first time.

Just hours after third seed Nikolay Davydenko was hustled out by Germany's Tommy Haas, Gonzalez pulled off the biggest upset of the men's tournament by stunning the second seed with his bewitching variety of strokeplay.

As Nadal surrendered his title hopes by slapping a backhand wide, Gonzalez punched the air in delight before going off to exchange high fives with some flag-waving Chilean fans in the crowd.

"I'm really happy. I've been in the quarterfinal of grand slams a few times but never won the matches so finally I'm in a semi and I'm happy," Gonzalez, who will next meet Haas, said courtside.

The 10th seed becomes the first Chilean to reach the last four of a major since Marcelo Rios's run to the Melbourne Park final in 1998.

Nadal had survived a four-set bruising encounter against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and a five-set thriller against British teenager Andy Murray en route to the last eight. On Wednesday, he ran out of options against an inspired Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who had claimed the scalps of local favourite Lleyton Hewitt and fifth seed James Blake, barely produced a loose shot as he completely outwitted his opponent with his attacking repertoire.

He unleashed 10 aces and 41 winners to destroy the world number two, who produced just seven winners in comparison.

"He was playing at a very good level. It wasn't good for me," said Nadal, who said he had injured his leg after his fourth-round victory over Murray.

"I have pain not just in one place, I have it in my famous arse," he added, pointing comically to his backside.

Audacious forehands

"I had problems in my leg so I couldn't run properly. It was difficult to play a quarterfinal like this."

Gonzalez tortured the double French Open champion by dragging him away from the baseline time and again, forcing the Spaniard to awkwardly fire errors from the net.

As his tormentor whipped audacious forehands from the back of the court and produced stinging volleys from the net, Nadal could barely believe the action unravelling in front of him.

He tried to slow the pace down by taking his time to change his shirt at the end of the second set, irritating Gonzalez with the Chilean already waiting at the baseline.

That failed to have the desired effect.

Dominating the baseline exchanges with his flamboyant shots, the 10th seed left Nadal deflated as he had an answer for every challenge the world number two could muster his way.

In the second game of the decider, Nadal thought he had conjured a winning lob but Gonzalez chased it down and turned around almost 360 degrees to whip a ferocious spinning forehand which dipped just inside the baseline.

With Nadal running out of tactics in the Rod Laver Arena, he immediately called for a trainer and took an injury time out.

Instead of distracting his opponent, it had the opposite effect and Gonzalez charged towards victory in just over two hours.

Nadal, the dual French Open champion, was expected to win his way through the bottom half of the draw to the final, but said he was restricted by the upper thigh injury.

"I was practising a little bit because I was very tired. Today I was going to warm up. I didn't feel very bad. I just feel very tired. The leg hurt.

"But when I am on court, I can't run. It was difficult and disappointing for me."

The Chilean thundered down 10 aces and made 41 outright winners, 20 of them on the forehand.

"I have been working with my coach Larry (Stefanki) for a few months and I've been trying to go in (to the net) and trying to slice more and trying to run a little bit more and save some points," he said.

"Before I used to hit, hit, I would win a point and lose a point and now I have other strategies to play and makes me play much better."

With world number one Roger Federer safely into the semis against American sixth seed Andy Roddick, Haas joined them with a gritty come-from-behind 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over third seed Davydenko.

The unassuming Russian looked good for victory and had a match point in the final set but he blew his chance and the German pounced.

"I don't know how I did it, I was just hanging tough. It's a major play on this kind of arena and I'm so happy right now," said Haas.

(China Daily via AFP January 25, 2007)