Tennis -Nadal beats Berdych in straight sets to reach semi-finals

French Open champion Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-4 6-2 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second successive year on Friday. The players had trouble adjusting to the wind on Centre Court in the opening games with number two seed Nadal breaking Berdych's serve in the second and the Czech, seeded seventh, breaking back immediately. Nadal turned on the power in the first set tiebreak, going 5-0 up before winning it 7-1 to take the set in 58 minutes. He took control of the match then and never relinquished it.

Both Berdych and 14th seed Nicole Vaidisova won a place in the quarterfinals for the first time ever but neither realized their hope of advancing to the semi-finals. Nicole Vaidisova dropped out on Thursday after taking a beating from the Serbian sixth seed Ana Ivanovic.