Jovial Monfils ousted as clinical Nadal marches on

GAEL Monfils managed the rare feat of getting a Spanish crowd on his side in a match against Rafael Nadal yesterday but was unable to prevent another claycourt masterclass from the four-times French Open champion.

After Nadal had stormed into a one-set lead in their Madrid Open quarter-final, the French 12th seed's antics at 2-2 in the second set briefly had the normally partisan locals behind him on a chilly Manolo Santana centre court at the Magic Box arena.

The 23-year-old's comical protests when a thumping winner was wrongly called out prompted laughter and cheers and he further endeared himself to the fans when he had to wave his arms to attract the attention of a distracted ball girl.

World number three Nadal, bidding for a third straight Masters title of the year on his favoured surface after triumphs in Monte Carlo and Rome, was unfazed and quickly claimed two more breaks of serve to add to a pair in the first set.

A double fault from Monfils on the first match point handed the world No 3 a 6-1 6-3 victory and a place in today's semi-finals. Both players were given warm ovations as they left the stadium.

"I enjoy connecting with the crowd," said Monfils, who was playing his first clay event of the year after a hand injury. "I played my game as well as I could but I was up against the best clay player on the planet and I lost, so what can you do." If Nadal reaches tomorrow's final, he will reclaim the number two ranking from Serbia's Novak Djokovic, who pulled out of the Madrid event due to illness, but he will first have to get past compatriot Nicolas Almagro.

The unseeded 24-year-old was in scintillating form against Austrian Juergen Melzer to reach his first Masters Series semi, converting four of his seven break points and not facing a single one on his own serve for a 6-3 6-1 success.

Roger Federer, who beat Nadal in the final last year, was seeking a place in the last four last night against Latvian Ernests Gulbis, with the winner due to face Andy Murray or Spaniard David Ferrer, who were also due on court last night.

• Venus Williams crushed Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-3 to move into the semi-finals of the Madrid Open where she will meet either Li Na of China or Israel's Shahar Peer.

Unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova beat 16th seed Nadia Petrova 6-1 1-6 6-4 to progress to the last four where she will face either Jelena Jankovic or Aravane Rezai.

• Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters has pulled out of the French Open, starting on 23 May, because she has not fully recovered from an injury to her left foot. Russian men's world No 6 Nikolay Davydenko is struggling with a sore left wrist and has also pulled out, organisers said in a statement.