Stopped by Nadal in Hamburg

Reigning Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal outlasted 12-time grand slam champion Roger Federer 7-5 6(3)-7 3-6 in the finals of the ATP Masters Series in Hamburg, Germany to take the only clay-court Masters Series shield missing from his trophy case.

Reminiscent of the finals in Monte Carlo, this match was a see-saw battle between the two tennis greats.

Federer gained the upperhand early with some superb shot-making to race ahead 3-0 before the Spaniard could get himself on the scoreboard. This seemed to be a routine set win when he earned set-point when way ahead 5-2 with Nadal serving to stay in the set. But after Nadal took an injury time-out for what appeared to be a pulled hamstring, Federer lost his concentration--and six games in a row to eventually concede the set to a strangely subdued Nadal (i.e. no fist pumps, etc.).

The number two-ranked Spaniard then looked to finish off Federer in straight sets by breaking the Swiss' serve right off in the second set. The four-time Hamburg title holder however refused to give up and broke back immediately. With momentum on his side, Federer then played aggressively to break Nadal's serve one more time and set up a 5-2 lead. But ever-fickle Lady Luck decided to change sides once more letting Nadal break back to stop Federer from running away with the set and even the score at 5-all. Nadal then threatened with three break points in the next game but Federer eked out an amazing turnaround by winning five successive points to hold serve for a 6-5 lead. A relatively comfortable serve by Nadal sent the second set to a tie-break where a rallying Federer came back from a mini-break down to force a deciding set.

Both players began the third set with holds of serve with Federer struggling a bit more in his service game. Things began to look bleak for the Swiss when Nadal displayed his authority on the red dirt in the fourth game with a break of serve. The 21-year old then managed to hold off a clearly frustrated and error-prone Federer in subsequent games, and sealed victory with a love service game to avenge the defeat--the first in 81 matches on clay--that Federer dealt him in last year's finals.

(From the way things looked during the awarding ceremony however, Nadal mysteriously didn't appear to relish this victory in particular and looked as glum--or perhaps even glummer--than Federer as they posed with their trophies for the press.)
This was obviously a tough match for Federer who had little opportunity to hone his game with straightforward wins against unseeded player en route to the finals. He did have patches of brilliance during the match but was just not able to maintain a high level of play long enough to outwit and outlast the Spaniard this time around.

But with the French Open to look forward to, Federer should once again take the positives from this latest defeat and, with part-time coach Jose Higueras in his corner, hope to capture the grand slam title that has long eluded him. This at least should be the motivation that would keep him from retiring prematurely just as WTA number one Justine Henin did recently!
Photo credit:AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach