Gonzalez halts Nadal to reach first grand slam semi

MELBOURNE, Jan 24 (Reuters) Chilean Fernando Gonzalez shattered Rafael Nadal's Australian Open dreams with a dazzling 6-2 6-4 6-3 victory today to reach the semi-finals of a grand slam for the first time.

Just hours after third seed Nikolay Davydenko was hustled out by Germany's Tommy Haas, Gonzalez pulled off the biggest upset of the men's tournament by stunning the second seed with his bewitching variety of strokeplay.

Gonzalez tortured Nadal by dragging him away from the baseline time and again, forcing the Spaniard to awkwardly fire errors from the net.

The 10th seed becomes the first Chilean to reach the last four of a major since Marcelo Rios's run to the Melbourne Park final in 1998.

REUTERS PM PM1805