Nadal surprises himself by reaching semi-finals

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal wore down Finn Jarkko Nieminen on Tuesday to reach his first hardcourt grand slam semi-final and admitted he had surprised himself by getting so far.

The Spanish second seed, three-times winner of the French Open and runner-up at Wimbledon for the past two years, beat 24th seed Nieminen 7-5 6-3 6-1 to reach the last four.

But having previously failed to get past the quarter-final stage at either the Australian Open or U.S. Open, Nadal said he was shocked to have made it.

"It's better than I thought," Nadal told reporters, after reaching the last four without dropping a set.

"I am happy, because always it is important to cross the quarter-finals.

"If I'm in the final on Sunday, it's going to be a dream for me here. I'm very happy about my start here, playing the final in Chennai and being in the semi-finals here."

Nadal saved two set points before winning the first set and gradually turned the screw to see off Nieminen in two hours, 19 minutes.

In the semi-finals he will play either Russian 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny or unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"I have to continue to play more aggressively," Nadal said.

"I need to start the matches well, like the match (in the round) before against (Paul-Henri) Mathieu. More aggressive, trying to go inside the court and trying to do the point with the forehand."

The Spaniard has lost four of his 10 matches against Youzhny but admitted that whoever wins their quarter-final clash will present him with a tough test.

"Youzhny is a difficult player for me to play against," he said.

"I lost some times against him. He plays very aggressive, he goes inside the court and he's playing very well.

"And Tsonga the same. Big serve, very aggressive player. I have to play aggressive if I want to win the semi-finals, aggressive and good."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)