Three-time defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was supposed to be here. The same cannot be said for two-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal. Both reached their second straight Grand Slam final with straight set victories in the men's semifinals on Centre Court at the All England Club Friday.
It sets up a highly anticipated rematch between the top two players in the world. For Federer, who lost in four sets to Nadal last month at Roland Garros on the Spaniard's best surface, it's a chance for redemption. After falling short of completing a career Grand Slam, the seven-time slam winner will have a shot to play Nadal on his most dominant surface. Considering that Nadal has handed Federer all four losses this year while he's a perfect 55-0 against everyone else, it's also an opportunity for the Swiss No.1 to prove he can beat his most difficult foe on tennis' biggest stage.
"I know I can beat him," Federer told reporters at a postmatch conference after stretching his grass court record win streak to 47 with a convincing 6-2, 6-0, 6-2 conquest in just 77 minutes over unseeded Swede Jonas Bjorkman- completing the most lopsided semifinal in tournament history.
The 24 year-old Federer will also put his run of 27 straight at Wimbledon on the line in an attempt to four-peat. Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg are the last two men to accomplish that feat.
"I don't need to think of playing against him. I need to focus on me playing on grass, my style, playing aggressive. It's going to be easier on grass to do that than on clay."
For Federer, he had no problem cruising through against surprise 34 year-old semifinalist Bjorkman. It didn't take long for the champion to break his 59th ranked opponent, doing so in the third game.
Though the 1997 U.S. Open semifinalist held for 2-3 to keep it close, it would be shortlived as Federer ran off the last three games to claim the one-sided set on a forehand winner. From that point, he bageled Bjorkman in the second set and then took the first two games of the third set before the Swede mercifully held for 1-2 to snap a streak of 11 straight, prompting enthusiastic cheers.
But like a well oiled machine, Federer ran off the next three games to pull within a game of his fifth consecutive slam final. When Bjorkman held for 2-5 at love finishing with an ace, the crowd once again cheered even though they knew the end was near. To their delight, Bjorkman didn't give up, saving two match points before a Federer service winner finally concluded the match.
"I felt like I played a guy who was as near to perfection as you can play the game," praised Bjorkman of Federer, who finished the match with 30 winners to only 13 unforced errors and converted 7-of-9 break points. "I had the best seat in the house."
Federer will also try to become the first Wimbledon champion to not drop a set since Borg in 1976. But that wasn't on his mind.
"I can't rely on a performance every time (that's) flawless, straight sets, no worries, no break points, all this stuff," he pointed out. "A final is always very different because the pressure is much higher."
After Federer completed his routine win, the 20 year-old Nadal overcame a tough battle from Australian Open runner up Marcos Baghdatis- defeating the 18th seeded Cypriot 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.
In an ultracompetitive match which took almost two and a half hours to complete, Nadal outslugged his opponent from the baseline and even at the net where he converted 31 of 38 (82 percent).
Taking advantage of a slow start by his opponent, the No.2 seed broke Baghdatis three times in the opening set to easily capture it in 30 minutes.
The second set would be much different. With the 21 year-old Cypriot playing more aggressively, he held serve easier and began to dictate more points by mixing in some nifty dropshots to go with some top heavy groundstrokes which produced most of his 38 winners.
Despite putting more pressure on Nadal's service games, Baghdatis continued to fall short of breaking the Spaniard for the first time in four matches. Nadal continually played the bigger points well enough to get out of trouble and keep the pressure on Baghdatis.
"When he's on defense, he's playing unbelievable," Baghdatis said. "And when he's attacking, the ball is so fast."
When Nadal held for 5-4, the opportunistic Spaniard put the heat on to get to 15-40 and setup two set points. But the fiery Cypriot valiantly saved both with an ace and forehand volley winner just out of the reach of Nadal. He finally held for five all with another ace.
After Nadal held for 6-5, a third set point was denied when an errant Baghdatis serve down the middle was called good despite a mild protest from the Spaniard. Though a tough break went against him, Nadal didn't let it affect his play converting his fourth set point on a perfectly struck inside out crosscourt forehand passing shot to capture the 64-minute set. He finished the match with 43 winners.
Despite being down two sets, Baghdatis pressed for an early break in the opening game of the third set but Nadal denied two more chances leaving the emotional Cypriot gently banging his racket against his head in frustration.
Nadal broke for the fifth time in the fourth game to go up 3-1 on the most spectacular point of the match. With both players inventing new angles from the baseline, each hustled to stay in the crucial rally and wound up at the net. When a Baghdatis backhand volley hit the net cord, Nadal didn't flinch and calmly stuck a forehand volley winner to secure the break.
After holding for 2-4, Baghdatis once again was thwarted by Nadal in the seventh game. After three break chances were turned away, a fourth opportunity looked to have finally put the set back on serve. But unfortunately for Baghdatis, his forehand which got a piece of the baseline was overruled out by the chair umpire. It would allow Nadal to escape, denying all nine break points against his serve.
Baghdatis held for 3-5 before Nadal finally served it out, punctuating his hard fought victory with an overhead before falling to the grass in celebration before getting a congratulatory pat on the back from his worthy foe at the net.
"I'm very emotional. It's amazing to be in the finals," Nadal expressed. He is trying to become the first male player to win both the French and Wimbledon back-to-back since Borg.
"I am bit surprised. Maybe I improved a little bit? I am very happy for me – it is an unbelievable result."
In his previous two trips to London, he never made it to the second week. Now he finds himself one win away from beating the best on grass.
"I'm going to have a very, very, very difficult match. I'm going to play against one of the best in tennis history, especially on this surface. So I need to play my best match in my life to win. So I'm going to try that."
Baghdatis who fell to Federer for the Australian Open title back in January and now Nadal less than six months later summed it up best:
"They're very close. They're the two best players in the world at the moment. You cannot say one is the best- you have to take both of them."
Bryans Move Into Men's Doubles Final: The American twin brother duo of Bob and Mike Bryan inched closer to completing a career Grand Slam in men's doubles with a four set semifinal win over Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-1.
The No.1 seeds will look to add Wimbledon to complete the doubles slam. They'll take on the team of Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic for the championship after Santoro and Zimonjic posted a 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 win over Martin Damm and Leander Paes.
Women Set To Do Battle: Top seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo takes on No.3 seeded Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne for the women's Wimbledon crown later today.
In an Australian Open rematch in which Mauresmo prevailed 6-1, 2-0 (ret.), both will be going for their second slams of the year. Last month, the 24 year-old Henin-Hardenne captured her third French Open in four years and fifth slam title. If she wins, she'll become the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam. The Wimbledon title eluded her grasp five years ago when she lost to Venus Williams.
The 27 year-old Mauresmo aims for her second career slam to backup her number one ranking.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment