Nalbandian Crushes Santoro to Reach Last Four

Argentine David Nalbandian was tested early in his quarterfinal match at the Australian Open, but quickly pulled his form together to leave no question about his position as one of the world's best.

Fabrice Santoro seemed poised to give Nalbandian a stiff challenge Tuesday afternoon as he took the first break of the match to go up 4-3, but the reigning Tennis Masters Cup champion responded immediately to level the score.

The Frenchman succeeded in winning one more game in the first set before Nalbandian went on to blank his opponent for the remainder of their meeting. He answered Santoro's serve with a backhand winner down the line to clinch the match, 7-5, 6-0, 6-0 in one hour and 41 minutes.

Nalbandian was appearing in his fourth consecutive quarterfinal in Melbourne - also the seventh time in his last nine Grand Slam tournaments that the World No. 4 had reached the quarterfinals.

This will be the Argentine's first time advancing to the Australian Open semifinals. He will play the winner of the Marcos Baghdatis-Ivan Ljubicic quarterfinal match. (ATP)