It has been almost 3 years since Federer did not beat Nadal outdoor (1000 ATP Madrid final in 2009). Today he did it in style displaying a really remarkable tennis.
From the very beginning he looked to be a man on a mission to get an early 3-0 lead. But Rafa is not only a cute face (and this we know very well!) and he was not available at all to be humiliated by his tennis rival. So the Spaniard gave it back to reach a 3-3 score. But at that point the Swiss Maestro started his tennis lessons to win other 3 straight games producing an array of what-the-hell-was-that shots.
The first set was something different comparing the previous matches between these two. For the first time it seems that Roger finally applied the correct game with Rafa. Alias, instead of being stubborn with his formidable inside outs forehands (a very strong weapon.. but not so strong with Nadal), he was using a lot a not-so-fast shot on Nadal’s backhand… yes… Nadal’s backhand a shot that is trillions of times less effective than his amazing forehand.
In the second set you could expect whatever, but to tell the true the most likely scenario would have been a typical Roger’s melting (before his most dreadful rival)…and… that was not the case!
Roger was back to business to break Nadal’s second serve game to reach a 3-1 lead. Then he had another couple of break points that Super Rafa managed to deal in his fashion (winning them!). Eventually Roger got the second break to reach the 5-2 lead. Game over? Not at all! Rafa won at 15 the next Roger’s serve to then hold his. At that point Roger’s melting was waiting to happen.. and it didn’t! The two players had a fearless and a very high quality game that eventually stopped on the match point (40-30) for Federer. What happened? The rain! The two players waited a couple of minutes… Roger stepped in (he said a couple of thousands of preys to his guardian angels) and blasted a formidable ace.
It was 6-3 6-4 and a lots of fun!!!
Roger will play Isner in the final.
HIGHLIGHTS
RAFA’S INTERVIEW
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Photo Credit to JohnnyB
