2010 ATP World Tour Finals: Rafael Nadal makes it into the final; season over for Andy Murray
World number one Spaniard Rafael “Rafa” Nadal will make his first final appearance at the World Tour Finals (WTF) event on Sunday after defeating local favourite Andy Murray in the semis.
Rafa qualified for the sixth straight year after winning the title at Roland Garros. His career best at the event, however, came this year when he moved into the finals with a perfect 4-0 mark so far. Although he did make it to
the semis twice before in 2006 and 2007, his title run was ended on both occasions by Swiss Roger Federer. He pulled out of the event in 2005 and 2008 due to injuries. His career worst came last year when plagued by an injury, Rafa had to exit the event with
a 0-3 mark having lost his round-robin (RR) stage matches in straight sets to Robin Soderling, Nikolay Davydenko and Novak Djokovic.
However, this time around Nadal has put his 2009 demons to rest as he moved through the RR stage in full form. Having done away with Andy Roddick on Monday, Djokovic on Wednesday and Tomas Berdych on Friday, Rafa moved into the
semis with just one set loss.
Nadal has decorated his career with multiple Grand Slams and numerous other ATP event titles. He also managed to win the Olympic Gold medal in 2008. With his 2010 United States Open win, Rafa became the second male professional
after Andre Agassi to complete a Career Golden Slam. Despite a decorated career, a WTF title has always eluded the Spaniard. However, with seven titles this year including three Grand Slams and three Masters titles, the Spaniard is in full form and may very
well be on his way to complete his collection. Rafa currently ranks at number one in the ATP ranking and will finish the season as such, regardless of whether he wins the WTF title or not.
Talking to the press after moving into the finals, an elated Nadal said, “It's a big emotion this afternoon. You know how tough it was for me last year. Being in the final is a dream.”
Although Nadal still has one more match to play before the season is over for him, for Murray it was the end of the line. The local favourite put up a good fight, but in the end, the better player won. Murray ends the season on
a high note as he reclaims the fourth position in the ATP rankings. He had lost this position to Robin Soderling two weeks ago after the latter won the title at the Paris Masters. Murray has two titles to show for this season having won at Shanghai and Toronto.
On both occasions, he defeated the world number two, Federer to bag the title.
With the final scheduled for Sunday evening, it remains to be seen whether Nadal will be playing Djokovic or Federer. The Swiss and the Serb battle it out in their semi final match later today.
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