Rafael Nadal defeats Roger Federer, will meet Novak Djokovic in the final of Sony Ericsson Open 2011
World number one Rafael Nadal of Spain registered his 15th victory over the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer by drubbing him in the semi-final of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida, on Friday night. The in-form Spaniard made his win look quite
easy as he ousted Federer in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, taking only 79 minutes of play.
Nadal avenged his last years defeat at the hands of the world number three and extended his head-to-head lead against Federer to 15-8. A below-par performance from the 29-year-old Swiss was not good enough to cope with the fury of Nadal, who gave no chance
to him to settle down in the contest.
“It wasn’t easy for him tonight,” Nadal told after the match, “I played a very, very good match, very solid and serious.”
Federer appeared sloppy on court and failed to match the velocity of the Spaniard’s ground strokes. He fired six aces in the contest while serving with 60 per cent accuracy but surprisingly couldn’t craft a single break point throughout the match. Nadal
overwhelmed the former world number one with his accurate power game to advance to the final of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour event.
The third ranked Swiss had to face trouble early in the opener, according four unforced errors to drop his serve and trail 1-2. His Spanish opponent was brilliant on winning points, bagging 16 of 18 serve points in the opening set and pinching two serve
breaks to the opponent. Nadal’s angling cross-court strokes created some serious problems for Federer, who was stretched to his limits to reach for them. The Swiss kept leaking unforced errors, mounting to a devastating figure of 31 for the contest, in contrast
to Nadal’s mere 10.
Federer couldn’t withstand the frequent forays from the Spaniard and eventually submitted the opening set at 3-6. His serve game slumped further in the next set, reaching just 55 per cent of accuracy and winning 63 per cent points on it. Nadal’s aggression
earned him an early break point to lead 3-0 in the second set and press his opponent further to commit mistakes in the game.
The top seed held his serve throughout the second set, while breaking the opponent twice out of three times. Federer slumped further in the game and couldn’t recover from a 2-5 deficit, finally losing the match to Nadal at 2-6. Federer’s poor run continued
as he failed once again to reach a major ATP tournament final this year, suffering his 15th loss at the hands of Nadal.
The Spaniard will be facing the world number two, Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final of Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday night. The Serb is currently enjoying his best ever form; a running 18-match unbeaten streak in the current year. Djokovic crushed the
14th seed American, Mardy Fish, in the semi-final to have a title shot at the Miami final.
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