Fernando Gonzalez rode his big serve and even bigger forehand to knock second-ranked Rafael Nadal out of the Australian Open and advance to his first Grand Slam semi-final. Shedding the inconsistencies that hampered him in the past, Gonzalez was simply dominating in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory that took just over two hours. The Chilean broke Nadal five times, and his 41 winners were almost triple Nadal’s 14. His 10 aces gave him 76 in five matches for the tournament lead; Andy Roddick is second with 71.The 10th-seeded Gonzalez said he may have never played better. “Tonight I played really unbelievable tennis. I hope to continue this week. I am trying to slice more, trying to run more. I used to just hit, hit, hit, and maybe I win the point.”Nadal said he was hampered by pain in his left leg and buttock that cropped up after his last match, a five-setter against Andy Murray. “I can’t run a lot,” he said, adding that he hopes to play Davis Cup in a week but will go to a doctor first. Gonzalez next plays Germany’s Tommy Haas on Friday. The 12th-seeded Haas saved a match point before upsetting No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.Fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters, starting her farewell tour, earlier beat friend Martina Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the women’s semi-finals. Clijsters wasn’t sure how she won after making 62 unforced errors and dropping serve five times. “I still am asking myself,” said the 23-year-old Belgian, who has announced she will retire at the end of the year. “It was definitely the most disappointing loss against her I’ve had,” said Hingis, 0-4 against Clijsters since her comeback and 4-5 overall. Clijsters will face top-seeded Maria Sharapova, who advanced to the semi-finals for the third straight year with a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Anna Chakvetadze, a fellow 19-year-old Russian.Twenty of Gonzalez’s winners came off his stinging forehand, one of the best in the game, which kept Nadal off-balance and unable to get into the long rallies that he relishes. “I think that my forehand was the key of the match,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve been playing really good, feeling the ball, defending, serving really well and, of course, hitting my forehand all around the court.”Gonzalez broke Nadal twice in the first set and again in the opening game of the second when the Spaniard crashed a forehand into the net on double breakpoint.Gonzalez saved a breakpoint in the eighth game with a stunning forehand swipe, and took a 2-0 lead when Nadal’s service return landed long on set point.Nadal called for a medical time-out because of his leg after the third game of the third set. Because he had to remove his long shorts, he had to leave the court for treatment.Gonzalez pounced on a second serve at break point in the fifth game of the third set, ripping a forehand winner for a 3-2 lead.Nadal sent a pair of forehands wide on the last two points while serving at 3-5 to surrender the match.“If I am playing bad, you can go home and say ‘disappointing,’” Nadal said. “But today I just say, well, I can’t do more. I try my best.” -PAUL ALEXANDER
