Nadal 'amazed' to make semi

Rafael Nadal admitted he was amazed to find himself in the Wimbledon semi-finals after brushing aside the challenge of Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets.

Nadal won 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Court One and will now take on Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis on Friday for the right to face either defending champion Roger Federer or Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman in Sunday’s final.

“Sure, it’s a surprise to be in the semi-finals, it’s an unbelievable tournament for me,” said Nadal, who lifted his second French Open title after his 60th straight win on clay just 25 days ago.

“I never had a goal (of reaching a certain round). My goal was to come here and play a good tournament. My special goal was after the tournament to say: ‘Yes, I improve a little bit on this surface.’

“For sure I gonna have that after this tournament. Now it’s a different tournament now I think about the semi-finals and the final.

“I know when I go to Roland Garros I can win when I’m in the semi-finals but this is new for me.”

Nadal is the first French Open champion since Andre Agassi in 1999 to reach the Wimbledon semi-final in the same year, Agassi reaching the final but losing to Pete Sampras.

The 20-year-old is now aiming to become only the second Spanish champion in Wimbledon history after Manolo Santana in 1966.

“I have a very good relationship with him, I saw him in the locker room before the match and afterwards.

"He always wishes me good luck, tells me: ‘C’mon Rafita,’” added Nadal, who has dropped just two sets in the Championships so far, coming from two sets down to beat American qualifier Robert Kendrick in the second round.

The one dark cloud hovering over Nadal remains reports linking him to the doping scandal currently rocking the Tour de France, but the 20-year-old has received the full support of the tennis authorities and insisted it had no effect on his play.

“It’s not going to affect me because I know I’m completely innocent,” he stressed.

“It’s not difficult because I’ve never taken anything in my life and I never will.”

Prevented from playing yesterday by bad weather and the epic match between Bjorkman and Radek Stepanek, Nadal and Nieminen finally began play shortly after 1pm.

And it was Nadal who was first to find the form which had seen him drop just two sets on his way to the last eight, breaking Nieminen in the fourth game with a superb forehand winner.

Nieminen bravely saved more break points to remain in touching distance at 4-2, but was unable to pressure the Nadal serve and the second seed sealed it 6-3.

Nieminen had let slip a two-set lead in the previous round before eventually beating Dmitry Tursunov 9-7 in the fifth set, so was clearly ready for a lengthy battle.

The first two games of the second set took a strength-sapping 18 minutes as both players battled to save a break point, and the Finn found himself 15-40 down in the fifth game as well.

It took some superb serve-volleying to get him out of trouble, the 24-year-old showing a deft touch at the net with two awkward backhand volleys.

But his serve let him down at the most inopportune moment, his first two double faults of the match gifting Nadal a break of serve in the ninth game and the Spaniard took full advantage.

“He’s a tough opponent but at the same time I’m disappointed how I played,” admitted Nieminen. “I think this was my worst match here.

“It’s a great achievement to be in the quarter-finals but it would have been nice to also play well. You can always lose or win, but the most important thing for me is to play well.

“If you then lose or win, that’s a different thing. But I’m just not happy with how I played today. There were many things that I did worse than in the other four matches.

“I served really badly today. Sometimes he doesn’t let you play your game, that’s a different thing, but some easy shots, some easy volleys and returns I didn’t do well today.”

Nieminen had come back from two sets down just once in his career and never truly looked capable of improving on that record.

The first six games of the third set went with serve until Nadal made the crucial breakthrough, a low bounce causing Nieminen to net a simple forehand and put Nadal 4-3 ahead.

There was no way back for the number 22 seed and Nadal sealed another impressive victory to keep hopes of the dream final against Federer alive.