Nadal Through to First Queen’s Club Semifinal

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Top seed Rafael Nadal survived a barrage of aces from Ivo Karlovic to move through to his first semifinal at The Artois Championships and set up a mouthwatering clash with four-time winner Andy Roddick.

Nadal, who is bidding to become the first reigning French Open champion to win at The Queen’s Club, dropped the first set before coming through 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in 2 hours, 25 minutes against Karlovic.

“It’s a very important win because I beat a specialist on this surface, big server,” said Nadal. “I practice my return. I think I return well, but I didn't have lot of chances. When I touch the ball, I return well. I think was very tough mentally match, but at the same time I was very focused all the time.”

Karlovic, the 2005 runner-up at The Queen’s Club, fired down 35 aces and saved the only two break points in the match. But he couldn’t find a way to break down Nadal’s serve and the Spaniard’s forehand passing shots eventually took their toll on the 6’ 10” Croatian.

“In the third set I start to feeling the ball very well with the forehand,” said Nadal. “I have a lot of winners, difficult winners, some very good passing shots, too. I finished the match feeling the ball perfect with the forehand.”

Describing what it was like to face the Karlovic serve, Nadal added: “Is like a penalty. You have 50 percent [chance] for one place to other place. And after, with this 50 percent, you have another 50 percent chance, because if you go to the good place, after you have to try to touch the ball good. And is very difficult, too.”

Nadal has now won 31 of his past 33 matches since reaching the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in April, and he is now just two victories away from claiming his fifth title of the season – and his first on grass.

The Spaniard has won two of his four previous meetings against Roddick, although the American won their last encounter in Dubai on hard courts earlier this year. This will be their first meeting on grass.