Maria Sharapova after her win on Wednesday

Melbourne: Second-ranked Rafael Nadal was ousted from the Australian Open, falling 2-6, 4-6, 3-6 in the quarter finals to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez on Wednesday.

Nadal had barely survived a five-setter in his last match, against Andy Murray, in which he looked vulnerable to an upset.

The 10th-seeded Gonzalez, known for his powerful serve, ripped 41 winners with only 16 unforced errors to advance to his first Grand Slam semi-final. He will play Germany’s Tommy Haas on Friday.

The 12th-seeded Haas saved a match point before upsetting No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.

“I am really happy,” Gonzalez said. “Tonight I played really unbelievable tennis. I hope to continue this week.”

Gonzalez became the second Chilean to reach the Australian Open semi-finals in the professional era after Marcelo Rios in 1998. Gonzalez won the Olympic doubles gold medal in Athens in 2004 with compatriot Nicolas Massu.

Fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters, starting her farewell tour, earlier beat friend Martina Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the women’s semi-finals.

She next meets top-seeded Maria Sharapova, who advanced to the semi-finals for the third straight year with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 win over Anna Chakvetadze, a fellow 19-year-old Russian.

Gonzalez broke Nadal twice in the first set and again in the opening game of the second when the Spaniard crashed a forehand into the net on double breakpoint.

Gonzalez saved a break point in the eighth game with a stunning forehand swipe, angling a cross-court from the left sideline into the ad court. He took a 2-0 lead when Nadal’s service return landed long on set point.

Nadal called for a medical time-out after the third game of the third set and, because he had to remove his long shorts, had to leave the court for treatment.

Nadal was unable to attack Gonzalez’ second serve, constantly changing his position to try and get the cheap points. And he was only winning about one-third of his own on second serve.

Gonzalez leaped onto a second serve at break point in the fifth game of the third set and ripped a forehand return winner for a 3-2 lead.

Nadal sent a pair of forehands wide on the last two points while serving at 3-5 to surrender the match.

Sharapova had trouble with her serve, while Clijsters had trouble in general, but both found ways to win. Clijsters wasn’t sure how after making 62 unforced errors and dropping serve five times.

“I’m still asking myself,” said the 23-year-old Belgian, who has announced she will retire at the end of the year, tired of nagging injuries and eager to start a family.

“I think the only two things that I did well today was I fought and I tried. That’s the only thing you can do when you’re not hitting the ball well and you feel like whatever you’re trying is not really going your way. Hopefully, it turns it around. Luckily for me, it did.”

Sixth-seeded Hingis is a three-time former champion here and reached the finals three other times. The fans virtually adopted Clijsters while she was dating Australian player Lleyton Hewitt.

Clijsters, who had looked so sharp in her first four matches, had trouble with just about everything at first against Hingis and double-faulted on set point.

Hingis contributed to Clijsters' malaise with a mix-it-up strategy that included drawing the Belgian to the net, then sending lobs over her head.

“She’s a player who really feels it,” Clijsters said of Hingis. “She knows when the opponent’s not playing well. She figures it out pretty fast. She plays on your weaknesses.”

Clijsters finally started finding the range, breaking Hingis twice. Hingis got one break back, then Clijsters served out the set.

Hingis had staved off four break points while serving at 3-3 before Clijsters converted the fifth. Frustrated, Hingis angrily spiked her racket in the next game, then twice kicked balls in the ninth as she fell behind 15-40 while serving at 3-5. A forehand winner down the line ended the match.

“It was definitely the most disappointing loss against her I’ve had,” said Hingis, 0-4 against Clijsters since her comeback and 4-5 overall. “I kind of had her, but let her get back in the game. Some players wouldn’t have come back, but she did. She’s a great fighter.

Clijsters ended Hingis’ remarkable comeback run here in the quarter finals last year, when the Swiss star was ranked No. 349 and returning from three years off the circuit because of injuries. She also beat Hingis in the quarter finals at the French Open.

“It’s great playing her and everything, but I don’t want to see her in the quarter finals ever again,” Hingis said, laughing. “It’s like every time I get to the quarters I have to face Kim.”

Sharapova was inconsistent, smacking clean winners to take one game, then committing glaring mistakes to lose the next. She double-faulted on break point three times, but she had the only point on serve in the tie-breaker.

The US Open champion was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 and wasted a match point with a backhand error in the next game.

She made no mistake in the 12th game, and Chakvetadze netted a forehand on match point.

“It was very difficult, I didn’t feel like we had a lot of easy rallies,” Sharapova said. “I felt I had to work on every point.”

Sharapova, who looks toward her father, Yuri, sitting in the stands after almost every point, got a warning for getting coaching from him as she served at 0-30 with the score tied at 2-2 in the second set. She then ran off four straight points to take the game.

Sharapova was later fined $2,000 for a coaching violation, but she denied getting help.

SEMI-FINAL LINE-UPS

Women: Maria Sharapova (1, Rus) vs Kim Clijsters (4, Bel); Nicole Vaidisova (10, Cze) vs Serena Williams (US)

Men: Roger Federer (1, Sui) vs Andy Roddick (6, US); Fernando Gonzalez (10, Chi) vs Tommy Haas (12, Ger)