Barclays ATP World Tour Final; Roger Federer topples world number one Nadal to bag his fifth crown at year finale
The Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer captured his fifth trophy at the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with a 3-setter victory over the world number one Rafael Nadal in the final match on Sunday. The score line was 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Federer previously won the season-ending tournament back in 2003, 04, 06 as well as 07. The right hander was also the finalist back in 2005 and has compiled a lifetime mark of 34-7 in the WTF. He is also the third contender in the championship’s history
to grab the trophy on five occasions in his career along with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl.
As the champion of the elite eight man field in London, the 29-year-old Federer received 1,500 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points along with prize money of $1,630,000 on Sunday. It is the fourth occasion that he has been crowned the undefeated
winner at the season finale, having missed just a single set throughout the week.
World number one Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, was competing in the title battle of the World Tour Finals for the first time and in the end suffered defeat at the hands of his arch rival Federer in their twenty second lifetime clash on the tour. Rafa,
however, still leads the pair’s overall head-to-head series at 14-8. Federer came into the battle having lost six of his last seven encounters with the Spaniard.
"I always believed in a plan from start to finish. Like at the first match I came out and played against David Ferrer, I think I always stayed true to how I wanted to play. It was the same thing today. Even though I lost the second set, I am really happy
the way I stayed positive throughout the match today. I thought it was clearly a very high level. I do not know if I could have played any better, so I am really pleased. It was interesting the way he played. But I stayed offensive. I knew in the long run
that could be vital, which it was at the end, so I am very happy,” reflected Federer after the match on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Roger came into the World Tour Finals on a red-hot run of form that had seen him lose only two clashes since squandering two match points in a five-setter loss at the hands of world number three Novak Djokovic in the semi-final match of the
year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open back in September. His total of twenty one wins since then is the highest number of victories the Swiss has even registered post the Flushing Meadows event.
Roger looked quite impressive right from the start of the match as he took no time to earn a lead of 5-3 in the opening set. After losing the opener, the 24-year-old Nadal did well to improve his game and came back strongly in the second set before going
on to level the clash with a sliced backhand past the net-rushing Swiss.
The Spaniard, however, once again was in no match with his opponent’s class and quality of tennis in the decisive set, though, and the Swiss broke serve on two occasions to clinch win in the end. The battle concluded in a time period of one hour and thirty
seven minutes.
The left handed Rafa, while praising his opponent said, "He played unbelievable. He was simply unplayable I believe in this opening set. I only can congratulate him for his win and another great championship for him. He played unbelievable throughout week
without missing a set, being in the title battle. Therefore his level was very high. I tried my best this afternoon; however he was better than me."
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