If the return to red clay had come rather smoothly and without surprises since Monday, it was definitely not the case over the last two days, as Italy has got themselves a new hero, the fourth Musketeer fell (and well into jeers in that wake), a veteran realized a dream, and two players suffered tough losses, although not for the same reason.
Let’s start with the surprises.
Main draw action started today in Rome, where six first-round matches were played on top of the last seven qualifying matches. If Paolo Lorenzi defeating Nikolay Davydenko was a half surprise considering how good the Italian is on clay, I got particularly wrong in my prediction regarding Milos Raonic.
I am saying it for starters: I will not have the Madrid blues. This court has been a hazard all week and if Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych were, on the men’s side, the ones who adapted better to the surface, for the Swiss, it came with a price: he suffered a hip injury during the week and is not yet sure if he will play Rome, of which the main draw action started today. He will take a couple of days to evaluate if he’s physically apt to participate or not.
This said, we can only rejoice as this man likely from another world won his 20th Masters 1000 shield, thus tying his frival Rafael Nadal with the record, and also frog-leaped him at no 2 in the world in the new rankings. His 3-6 7-5 7-5 win over Berdych also concluded his 74th career title, his 10th on clay, and his seventh since last October.
Filed under Madrid, Masters 1000, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych
The Madrid Open will reach its conclusion tomorrow in a final worthy of the best indoor hard court matches and will oppose Roger Federer, aiming for his 10th clay court title and 20th Masters shield overall (did I mention that he and Rafa are into a very nice battle for them this season?), and Tomas Berdych, aiming for his second Masters 1000 (his only one already dating nearly seven years).
I cannot remember when Rafael Nadal has squandered a two-break lead on clay in a deciding set before. Today, however, he did. Up 5-2 in the third set against Fernando Verdasco, against whom he was on a stretch of 13 consecutive wins, he lost his advantage and in the end, it’s the Madrid native who finally logged a win against Nadal, triumphing 6-3 3-6 7-5 in 3:10.
