Federer-Nadal
Roger Federer blitz-krieged the Serbian Novak Djokovic with a 6-1, 6-4 victory to pave his way to the final of the ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday and set up a match with ace opponent Rafael Nadal for only the second time this season.
Nadal made a narrow escape earlier with victory in a marathon lasting for more than 3 hours to produce a 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) defeating Andy Murray after the slogging Scotland national saved 2 match points and broke the world number.1 as Rafael served for the match point in the final set of their encounter.
“We’ve had some epics, some classics and I’m really looking forward to playing Rafa again,” said Federer in his post match press conference. “Our styles match up really well.” Federer reached the final of the year ending event without a loss or a lost set in the 4 matches, and stands on the cusp of his fifth season-ending title.
Federer literally thrashed Djokovic, whom he has defeated in 3 of the 4 matches n 2010, including this month’s final at Basel in Roger’s home town. The Swiss went up a double break in less than 30 minutes, reaching 5-1 on a fourth break chance of that game and winning the opener set 6-1 after 31 minutes as Djokovic fired long, his 12th unforced error against Federer’s 13 winners.
Djokovic began to look respectable as he broke Federer for the first time in the match to take a 2-0 lead in the 2nd set after Roger let loose of a 40-15 lead. But the joy from an increased margin of 3-0 lasted only 2 games for the Serb, who produced a pair of unforced errors to give the break back in the 5th game to put it back on serve. Federer won the match pulling away with a fabulous service winner.
Nadal quoted his won over Murray to the press “a fantastic match, I’m very happy to beat a great champion player like Andy Murray. It was an amazing victory. It was a very difficult match against one of the best players of the world. His level is unbelievable almost always. If he keeps playing like this, there’s no doubt that he is going to have big chances to win very important titles.”
Murray showed grit and determination from the start of an inspired contest in front of a home crowd of 17,000 fans hanging tough with his Spanish opponent who owns 3 out of 4 Grand Slams this season. “It was a great match, I think both of us played very well,” said the Scot who will move back to no.4 spot in the rankings to end the season.
“I probably played one bad game in the whole match, or maybe just a couple of bad points, not many. “It was a great tennis encounter but I’m disappointed to lose.” Andy saved a match point in the 9th game of the final set and repeated it again in the final game before Rafael came good on his third chance.
The Spaniard finally ended the 3 hours plus action filled drama with a ripping forehand cross-court into the corner. “Even when I was losing 4-1, 3-0 in the final tiebreak, I was happy,” said Nadal “I was saying, ‘Just try to be there calm n focused, because there is always a chance for me.’ “I was really very happy because I was playing a great match. Even if I lose, I had a fantastic season gone by this year. “If I lose against Andy playing like this, just congratulate him, go home be very happy for everything, and practice for next year.” he concluded.
Tags: ATP World Tour Finals, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis
