Rafael Nadal stepped up to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets 7-6, 6-1 to reach the semifinals of the Rolex Paris Masters 2019 on Friday. With this clinical victory, Nadal took his career head-to-head against Tsonga to 10-4.

And one shot in the second set had fans and commentators in awe. The Frenchman appeared destined to win the rally, running Nadal all over the court. However, Rafael Nadal surprised Tsonga and put him in an uncomfortable position and forced him to hit an unforced backhand error.

Rafael Nadal was leading 3-0 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was serving at 40-15 when the Spaniard hit an improvised tweener to win the point. The Mallorcan was Chasing a drop shot by Tsonga, Nadal raced to the ball to return a cross-court drop. Tsonga then managed to hit the ball on Nadal’s service box.

However, the 33-year-old hit an improvised tweener with his back to the net, hit a forehand between his legs — the “tweener” as this shot is called. Jo-Wilfried had made his move back towards the baseline but hit the backhand in the lobby.

Tsonga was rock solid on serve in a first set which did not see a single service game from either player even reach deuce.

But the soon to be World No.1 Nadal changed gears in the tie-break and hit two incredible winners to take a crucial first set lead. The Frenchman’s serve gradually started to betray him in the second set, as successive double faults allowed Nadal to claim the first break of the match and he then hurried to victory.

The No.2 seeded will face Denis Shapovalov in the last four of the 2019 Rolex Paris Masters on Saturday.

Nadal is 4-0 against left-handers in the 2019 season. However, Rafael Nadal has been defeated by the Canadian next-generation star in Montreal.  Nadal then evened their head-to-head series at 1-1 last year in Rome. The 19-time Grand Slam champion is just two victories away from clinching year-end No. 1.