Mahut Stuns Nadal on Memorable Day for French

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Nicolas Mahut upset top seed Rafael Nadal on a memorable day for French tennis as both he and Arnaud Clement won two matches on Friday to set up a semifinal meeting at The Artois Championships.

Mahut handed World No. 2 Nadal just his second loss since March, defeating the Spaniard 7-5, 7-6(0) to reach his first career ATP semifinal. The World No. 106 had already caused an upset earlier in the day when he defeated No. 5 seed Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(3), 6-3 in his rain-delayed third round match.

Meanwhile, Clement reached his first semifinal at The Queen’s Club in equally impressive fashion, first upsetting No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic in the morning and then defeating former finalist Ivo Karlovic late in the afternoon.

Mahut, who won the Junior Wimbledon title in 2000 and a challenger on grass in Manchester in 2003, said: “You don't beat in the same day Ljubicic, Nadal, two top 10 players. It's amazing."

Clement, who had never previously gone beyond the second round at The Artois Championships, followed up his three-set win over Djokovic with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Karlovic.

“The first match was against Djokovic, so I was just focused on this one this morning,” said Clement. “It wasn't a good start. The finish was very good. The third set was very good.

“After I beat Djokovic, No. 4 in the world, come on, I have a chance to beat Karlovic. I know it's tough against him on grass because his serve is unbelievable. But I made the good choice, not always, but enough to break him two times.”

The Frenchman, who at 5’8” was more than a foot shorter than his 6’10” opponent, broke Karlovic once in each set while saving the only break point he faced on his own serve.

Clement will be looking to reach his third career grass court final, having finished runner-up in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2002 and 2003. Mahut, who has never reached a semifinal before, won their only previous meeting in Casablanca on clay last year.

“We spend a lot of time together,” said Mahut. “We went on holidays the last two years together. We're good friends.”