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MELBOURNE - Chilean Fernando Gonzalez shattered Rafael Nadal's Australian Open dreams with a dazzling 6-2 6-4 6-3 victory early today to reach the semifinals of a grand slam for the first time.
Just hours after third seed Nikolay Davydenko was hustled out by Germany's Tommy Haas, Gonzalez pulled
off the biggest upset of the men's tournament by stunning the second seed with his bewitching variety of strokeplay.
Gonzalez tortured Nadal by dragging him away from the baseline time and again, forcing the Spaniard to fire errors awkwardly from the net.
The 10th seed becomes the first Chilean to reach the last four of a major since Marcelo Rios' run to the Melbourne Park final in 1998.
Earlier yesterday, Kim Clijsters delayed writing the final chapter in her Australian Open tennis memoirs by battling past Martina Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.
The Belgian fourth seed, playing at Melbourne Park for the last time before retiring at the end of the season, appeared sluggish and produced an uncharacteristic 62 unforced errors.
She began with a double fault and surrendered the first set with a double fault but clung on to seal the match with a forehand down the line winner.
Clijsters reached her fifth Australian Open semifinal and will next face top seed Maria Sharapova who reached her third successive Australian Open tennis semifinal with a hard fought 7-6, 7-5 victory over fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze.
Hingis cruised through the first set with two service breaks, but Clijsters fought back to level the scores.
Clijsters said: "When you're not seeing the ball the only thing you can do is fight and hopefully turn things around ... and I did.
"It definitely has to be better [against Sharapova].
"I'll have to be sharp in the beginning of the match. She's an incredible athlete and fights for every point and she showed that today."
Sharapova, 19, was broken twice in each set and her court speed was often exposed by the 12th seed before she prevailed in two hours and 14 minutes of scrappy action on Rod Laver Arena.
"I thought I was up and down, a bit scratchy," Sharapova said after dispatching her third compatriot of the tournament.
"When you're a set and a break up it's still tough, I'm glad I got through."
The warning signs were there early for Sharapova when she fell 0-40 behind in her first service game.
Chakvetadze had to call for a medical timeout for treatment on her shoulder at one stage.
As Sharapova's screams and grunts rose in intensity, Chakvetadze quietly went about her business with growing confidence.
Both players' fathers grew more animated as the match became tighter, Sharapova's coach and mentor Yuri incurring his daughter a code violation for coaching at one point.
But Sharapova's experience eventually shone through.
Haas advanced to his third Grand Slam semifinal with a five-set upset victory over Davydenko.
Haas, the 12th seed, won 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 to set up a semifinal against Gonzalez.
In a career spanning 34 majors over 12 years, Haas' only previous Grand Slam semifinals were at the 1999 and 2002 Australian Opens.
Last night's match lasted three hours and 19 minutes, with Haas winning on his second match point.
SEMIFINALS DRAW
Women
1-Maria Sharapova (RUS) v 4-Kim Clijsters (BEL)
Serena Williams (US) v 10-Nicole Vaidisova (CZE)
Men
1-Roger Federer (SUI) v 6-Andy Roddick (US)
12-Tommy Haas (GER) v 10-Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)
- REUTERS