Rafael Nadal beat defending champion Roger Federer in an enthralling match on Sunday to win the Hamburg Masters. Nadal earned a 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Federer to claim his 26th career ATP singles title and the third in 2008.
The first three games of Sunday’s match were in favor of Federer and he soon opened a commanding 5-1 lead after a break of serve at love. Nadal, though, hit back and won the final six games to take the set.
Nadal held serve in the next game and won the first three points against Federer’s serve in the 11th, but the top-seeded Swiss superstar steadied himself with an ace and fought back to win five straight points to hold for 6-5.
“It wasn’t my best performance. If you get broken so many times there is always something you are a little bit unhappy about,” said Federer. “But I think I am finding the right type of play from the baseline.” “He had a great week and a great clay-court season,” Federer said.

“All the week has been very special for me,” Nadal said.

Federer has been No. 1 since February 2004, but Nadal is the top player on the slower clay surface. Since April 2005, he has lost only twice in 110 matches on clay - to Federer last year in the Hamburg final and last week in Rome to Juan Carlos Ferrero, when Nadal was slowed by a painful blister on his foot.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will face off in a much-anticipated rematch at the $3.6 million Pacific Life Open after both players advanced to the semifinals on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Spaniard owns a 6-2 edge in the all-time series against the 2008 Australian Open champion and will face Djokovic for the seventh time since their encounter here in 2007.Nadal needed just over two hours to move on, posting his first victory in four career matches against Blake.

The world No. 2 struggled against Blake’s serve, winning just 23 percent (10-of-43) of first-return points. However, Nadal stepped up when necessary, breaking Blake’s serve on three occasions while saving 6-of-8 break points. With the loss, Blake, who was ousted in the final here by world No. 1 Roger Federer in 2006, fell to 30-9 lifetime against lefthanded players.

Meanwhile, Djokovic continued his stellar play against Wawrinka and has yet to lose a set in four matches here. Djokovic blasted seven aces and won 74 percent (32-of-43) of first-serve points - including all 15 in the second set - against Wawrinka.

The 22-year-old Wawrinka, who managed to save 10-of-15 break points during the two-hour match, fell to 3-2 in the all-time series against Djokovic but was not disappointed with his performance. The first prize is $555,000.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites

Watch the interview with the new Sony Ericsson Open champion, Nickolay Davydenko from Miami. You sure want to get a glimpse of the euphoria Davydenko must be feeling!

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites

It is not everyday that you get to see this man, Roger Federer go down in a tennis match, especially in the first round of a tennis tournament. Andy Murray, somehow seems to have the better of Federer as he routed him in three sets. This was Federer’s first defeat in three years in the opening round of a tournament. Federer, already considered as one of the best in tennis has been in a somewhat bad form of late. His equation with Murray is difficult to understand because Murray got the better of him in 2005 at the Dubai tournament. It is for the first time in sometime, that we see competition in tennis, because the last couple of years only saw on man winning – Roger Federer.

This year promises to bring the best of three players other than Federer, Djokovic, who is playing brilliantly at the moment, Nadal, the man to beat on a clay court and Murray slowly bracketing himself among the best.

For a tennis lover, this year will definitely brig a lot of surprises so get ready for a good year of tennis.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites