TheSportsCampus

The ATP World Tour Finals continued to live up to their promise of being the greatest tournament in the world with yesterday's calculator mania where Juan Martin del Potro edged Andy Murray by 1 game to a semi-final spot followed by a dramatic final day of round-robin action. Novak Djokovic came into his match with world no.2 Rafa Nadal knowing that a win was not going to be enough to send him through to the last four, but still held up his side of the bargain beating a beleaguered Nadal 7-6, 6-3 in an entertaining contest.

A win for Nikolay Davydenko against the unbeaten Robin Soderling would send the Russian through at the expense of Djokovic on the more sets won rule, and that is exactly what happened as last year's losing finalist continued his habit of ending the year on a high putting in a spirited performance to edge Soderling in a three set encounter 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.

22-year old Novak Djokovic and 23-year old Rafael Nadal started their 21st battle royale with three consecutive breaks of serve, and Djokovic taking an early 3-1 lead after Nadal failed to capitalize on a break opportunity to make it four in a row. Coming into this game on the back of three consecutive losses, the Spaniard was keen not to make it four in a row and broke back in the 8th game to level the set up a 4-4.

Both players hung on to their next couple of service games to force a first set tiebreak. The breaker was all Novak as he raced to a 6-2 lead and despite Nadal saving three set points, clinched the set on his fourth.

Nadal, who has had an incredibly injury prone year, received medical assistance for a stiff back early in the set, and dropped his serve decisively in the 4th game, allowing Djokovic to serve out the match in a little under two hours.

Rafa does still have the opportunity to salvage something from the latter half of his season as he leads the Spanish squad in the Davis Cup Final next week, and will be delighted to find his feet on the red clay and end his year on a high.

Nikolay Davydenko and Robin Soderling clashed for the 10th time today with the Russian knowing he had to improve his head-to-head record against the Swede to keep his hopes alive in the tournament. There was little to separate the two players in a tight opening set which saw just three break points created and none taken. Daydenko, who has a monstrous record in tiebreaks took control of the breaker after the players swapped ends and closed it our rather comfortably 7-4.

Soderling converted his only break point in the second set in the 9th game for a 5-4 lead, and promptly served out the set to level things up at one set apiece. An inspired Davydenko was brilliant in the decider, dropping just 3 points on serve in the entire set and reversing the trend of the second, picking up his first break of the match and dashing Djokovic's hopes with a lethal final service game.

Soderling picking up the second set against Davydenko ensured that he finished his group on top of the pile and will as a result face the Group A runner-up Juan Martin del Potro in the semis. Davydenko for his part earns a 13th career meeting with the Swiss legend, and is still searching for his first win against Federer.

In the doubles event the Bryan twins gave their chances of finishing the year as the no.1 pair in the world renewed hope by booking a place in the semi-finals courtesy of the straight sets win they needed to make the final four. Bob and Mike produced a clinical performance to beat Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach 6-3, 6-4, thereby earning a 2-1 win-loss record with a 4-2 sets win-loss ratio. Kubot and Marach also ended 2-1, but had lost one additional set and were unfortunate to be heading home despite a spirited showing over the course of the week.

Earlier in the day, Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram had booked their place in the semis by beating a disappointing Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 7-6 (1), 6-4 to send the Indo-Czech pair crashing to their third consecutive defeat in the tourney. Mirnyi and Ram ended the group on top with a 2-1, 5-2 record. They will take on the Czech-Slovak pairing of Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak in the semis while the Bryans will meet Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, the winners of Group A.

Friday, 27 November

Group B Singles
N Djokovic (SRB) d R Nadal (ESP) 76(5) 63
N Davydenko (RUS) d R Soderling (SWE) 76(4) 46 63

Group B Doubles
M Mirnyi (BLR) / A Ram (ISR) d L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) 76(1) 64
B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) 63 64

Saturday, 28 November

Mirnyi (BLR) / Ram (ISR) vs. Cermak (CZE) / Mertinak (SVK)
Federer (SUI) vs. Davydenko (RUS)
Bhupathi (IND) / Knowles (BAH) vs. Bryan (USA) / Bryan (USA)
Soderling (SWE) vs. Del Potro (ARG)

File Photograph: Madrid Masters

0 Comments

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form

Email Name		Comment smaller | bigger
		Subscribe via email (Registered users only) Add Comment