Australian Open: Tsonga defeats Nadal.

The frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eliminated Rafael Nadal in three straight sets of 6-2, 6-3 and 6-2 today to qualify to the 2008 Australian open final.

Tsonga, 22 years old and ranked 38th in the world, qualified to a grand slam final for the first time of his career. This tournament is only his 5th participation to a grand slam event in career.

His level of play did not give any chance to Rafael Nadal who had to play way behind his back line. More times than other, Nadal was pushed on defensive mode. Tsonga was spectacular at the net, winning around 75% of the points on his volley.

The road of the frenchmen was not an easy one as he had to go thru players like Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny before upsetting the No2 in the world, Rafael Nadal in the semis. He is the first french player to qualify to a grand slam final since Arnaud Clement in 2001.

The second semifinal of the Australian open will oppose Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

(Picture: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Getty images.)