Rafa Nadal beats Tsonga to reach Monte Carlo final

The Spaniard has now reached five straight finals since returning from a seven-month lay-off following a left knee injury. He will go for his fourth title of the season against Djokovic, who easily beat the unseeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-2, 6-1. The Serb showed no signs his right ankle is still bothering him, two weeks after twisting it on Davis Cup duty against the United States.

Djokovic and Nadal have not played against each other since last year’s French Open final, which Nadal won. He has won their last three encounters, after Djokovic took the previous seven – all of which were tournament finals. Nadal leads their head-to-head contests 19-14.

The sixth-seeded Tsonga saved four match points as he rallied back from 5-1 down to force a second-set tiebreaker, which was evenly poised at 3-3 before Tsonga started making unforced errors again by hurrying his shots.

Nadal clinched the victory with a forehand winner and took a step closer to a ninth straight Monte Carlo title and to extending his Masters titles record to 23.

Tsonga started brightly but missed three break point chances in the fourth game – including one which left him shaking his head in disbelief after Nadal scooped the ball off his ankles and whipped it back down the line. “He was extremely good today, and this is also what I call the champion’s luck,” Tsonga said. “The top players are able to do that.”

The flustered Frenchman lost his next service game easily and then lost his way totally, making 17 unforced errors in the first set compared to four for Nadal.

It looked like Nadal, pictured, would wrap up the second set more quickly than the first, breaking for a 2-0 lead and later holding three match points at 5-2. Tsonga saved those with some excellent shot-making, and then started to believe he could turn the set around.

“I always try to be aggressive when I play him. It’s the only way for me. If I stay back, there’s no way I can win,” Tsonga said. “But I can’t rush to the net either because otherwise he hits a passing shot, and 90 per cent of the time I lose the point. So I have to have the right mix between patience and aggressiveness.”

With Nadal serving for the match in the ninth game, Tsonga held two break points that were erased by a pair of aces. Nadal made two unforced errors, however, to drop serve and the Frenchman then drew level at 5-5 as chants of “Tsonga, Tsonga” rang out in the crowd.

Tsonga saved a fourth match point in the 12th game when an off-balance Nadal sent a forehand well wide. But Tsonga ultimately made too many unforced errors – 39 to Nadal’s 12.

Nadal has not been defeated at Monte Carlo since losing to former French Open champion Guillermo Coria in 2003.