Whew! Rafa Nadal Squeaks Through to Semi-Final after Beating Tsonga Friday

Whew! Rafa is definitely getting a workout on the courts at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam; his path to the quarters not being an easy one. Both Simone Bolello of Italy and Grigor Dimitrov pushed Rafa to the third set; the last set with Dimitrov lasting 2 and 1/2 hours. Rafa had trouble picking up his rhythm because Grigor played fast and hard, leaving Rafa with the impression that Dimitro is headed to the Top 10. His win, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, against Frenchman Jo-Wilifried Tsonga's 26 aces today also pushed Rafa the distance to a third set; he took the opening set but Tsonga fought back to win the second set on a tiebreak, but he couldn't put pressure on Rafa's serve in the decider and Rafa clinched victory on his first match point giving him the win which takes Rafa into the Semi-Finals where he'll take on Gael Monfils who beat his fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6, 6-1. I chuckled when Rafa told me, "Tsonga has an unbelievable good service. It was really heavy," because it doesn't mean anything if my Ruffie wins the match regardless, riiiiight!?! *Rawrrrrrr*