Rafael Nadal is victorious in his London opener against David Ferrer in straight sets on Tuesday. Novak Djokovic also wins a Paris rematch, beating Roger Federer in three.
(1) Rafael Nadal d. (3) David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2
Nadal lost to Ferrer on Saturday in Paris, but the story was a much different one on day two of the World Tour Finals. The world No. 1 converted six of seven break points to roll in just one hour and 14 minutes.
“I played a little calmer than other the day,” Nadal assured. “In my opinion he didn’t have the chance to hit a winner as easy as he did (in Paris).”
“Rafael play good; he started very solid,” assessed Ferrer, who is playing his seventh tournament in as many weeks. “I didn’t play my game. I made a lot of mistakes. I was not comfortable at the court.”
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(1) Novak Djokovic d. (6) Roger Federer 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-2
Djokovic ousted Federer in three sets during semifinal action in Paris and the Serb did the same on Tuesday in London. Federer managed to be competitive in the first two. The opener came down to little more than break-point conversions, with Djokovic saving one break point and converting his second chance when it mattered most at 5-4. Federer twice gave back breaks in the second, but he dominated the ensuing tiebreaker seven points to two.
In the third, though, the 32-year-old Swiss had no answer for an improving Djokovic. The world No. 2 seized two quick breaks and had no trouble consolidating them. Federer held a deuce game for 2-5 but Djokovic promptly served out the match at love.
BTW Federer says both he nd Novak did not play well and it was question of who took advantage of other not playing well 🙂
“The surface is slow here and it’s the first match, so there’s going to be errors,” said Federer.
“You have to take a lot of chances to get the ball past Novak, eventually that draws errors out of you.
“I think Novak also struggled for a long period of time. So did I.
“I’m not even sure if we played our best in the third. It’s just one of those matches you try to take advantage when the other guy is not 100%.”
I thought I had a chance today,” Federer said. “So that’s the part where I’m unhappy about, that I wasn’t able to take advantage of it. Because I was actually feeling much better than I was in Paris overall physically.
“Obviously it’s been a tough season overall. So I guess I’m just rattled at times, you know, with my level of play consistently. So I regret not having taken my chances better maybe, maybe played it a bit tougher, a little bit more solid overall.”
I agree with Fed. I realized that they played so late that I could see it during the day where I live. I thought that the first set was good quality, but the second set was kind of bizarre.
Djoker seemed to just go walkabout midway through the second set. Fed had trouble capitalizing on Djoker’s mental lapses. Fed finally won the second set in the tb. But Djoker got two breaks in the third set to lock it up.
It was clear to me that even though Fed has been playing better lately, his game has degraded. The mental lapses, the shanking, not being able to take advantage of opportunities. It’s all a part of the aging process.
I think going forward Fed may have his moments here and there, like the Montreal quarterfinal match with Rafa last summer. He may be able to produce quality tennis at times and make it competitive and even win at times. But I just don’t see him being able to beat Rafa, Murray and Djoker anymore.