Fernando Verdasco has the belief and the game to beat whoever faces him in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. And with his quarter final win on Wednesday, he also proved he has the mental toughness.

Verdasco has powered his way through the championships to reach a new high point in his career with his 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3 6-2 defeat of last year’s runner-up and the fifth seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

The win came 48 hours after he had dispatched the fourth seed Andy Murray with a display of accurate, power serving rarely witnessed at any level of tennis.

“I’m believing so much in myself and my game I can beat anyone,” Verdasco said.

Operating on the assumption that Nadal would be across the net on Friday, Verdasco said he was looking forward to playing the best in the world.

But he acknowledged it might require more than self-belief.

“The same way I can win, I can lose,” he said.

“But I can beat Rafa, I put no limit on it.”

In a match in which the momentum swung wildly from player to player in he first two sets, Verdasco played the more disciplined tennis against Tsonga.

He proved more solid in the tiebreak where precise serving gave him a 7-2 result and came out strongly in the second only to present Tsonga with a service break in the sixth game when he patted a simple volley out of court.

Tsonga made the most of the opportunity, safely taking the set and levelling the match at 1-1.

But that was the end of it for the Frenchman.

At times he looked injured, at others he looked disinterested.

In between he celebrated his rare good play with a leap and a shriek.

Verdasco merely thumped down an astonishing number of serves that were as accurate as they were powerful.

In the final set he put an unbeatable 88 per cent of his first serves into play.

His first serve percentage for the entire match was 78 per cent.

The roof over the Rod Laver Arena remained closed for the match, allowing both players respite from the 43 degree day outside the stadium.

But Verdasco would almost certainly have handled that as well as he did the air-conditioned interior.

The 25-year-old spent the end of last year training with Gil Reyes, the man who kept Andre Agassi fit for most of his career.

The chance arrived through his sponsorship from Adidas, but he said many players who had the opportunity to train with Reyes in Las Vegas had knocked it back.

“Because I don’t have a coach and because Agassi was my idol I took the decision to go there,” he said.

“I can’t wait to go again.”

Although his world ranking of 15 means he’s no slouch, Verdasco has been one fo the finds of the Open.

In 27 grand slams he hadn’t advanced beyond the fourth round until this week and last year he won only one ATP tournament.

But the absence of Nadal from the Spanish Davis Cup team for the final against Argentina last November thrust Verdasco into a leadership role that he made the most of.

Verdasco sealed the victory for Spain with his five-set defeat of Jose Acasuso, an experience he said had strengthened him mentally.

“It changed my life so much,” he said on Wednesday.

“It gave me confidence and made me mentally tougher for these five set matches.”

© AAP 2012

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