Nadal beats Verdasco to reach US Open semifinals

NEW YORK — Top-ranked Rafael Nadal got his serve in gear after being broken for the only time in five matches to beat No. 8 Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday night in the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in US Open history.

Nadal’s streak of 62 consecutive holds of serve ended in Thursday’s third game, when he Verdasco broke him at love go ahead 2-1. Nadal wouldn’t face another break point the rest of the match, though, and won the last 13 points he served in the second set.

And now Nadal is headed to a third consecutive semifinal at Flushing Meadows. Nadal never has reached a final in New York, losing at the semifinal stage to Andy Murray in 2008, and to eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro last year.

In the very early going, Verdasco played the brand of point-extending, opponent-dispiriting defense that Nadal is so well-known for. But Nadal broke back to get to 4-all, thanks to Verdasco’s consecutive double-faults, and suddenly was seeming more and more comfortable.

Nadal broke Verdasco for a second time in the last game of the opening set thanks to a volley winner at the end of a 20-stroke exchange. By match’s end, Nadal was pulling out all the tricks, even hitting one half-volley while spinning around, putting the racket on the ball with his back to the net.

On Saturday, Nadal — trying to complete a career Grand Slam at age 24 by earning a US Open trophy to put alongside the eight total he owns from the French Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open — will face 12th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a spot in the final.

No. 2 Roger Federer will face No. 3 Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s other semifinal; they won their quarterfinals Wednesday. Federer has a record 16 Grand Slam titles, including five at the US Open, and has faced Nadal in finals at the other three major tournaments.

Nadal has won his last 19 Grand Slam matches, including titles in 2010 at the French Open and Wimbledon.

Youzhny’s only previous trip to the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament came at the 2006 US Open, and he made it there by upsetting Nadal in the quarterfinals.

“It’s another time, and I’m, like, another player,” Youzhny said. “I cannot say I am (a) better player now, but it’s another time and other opponent, so everything can happen.”

He hit fewer aces and fewer winners, needed treatment on his right foot in the fifth set — and still managed to come back and beat No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in four hours.

“Maybe I was just a bit luckier than him,” Youzhny said.

As was the case for many matches in recent days, the wind was swirling inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. During Nadal’s 11th victory in 11 career matchups against Davis Cup teammate Verdasco, the wind gusted and the temperature dropped.

Neither player seemed pleased by the conditions, and Verdasco looked up at his guest box in the second game after hitting one of his six double-faults. In the next game, however, he played some terrific sliding, stretching defense during a 20-stroke exchange he capped with a backhand passing winner to earn a break point.

He converted that, but never got another chance to really rattle Nadal. — AP

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Williams lone American singles player at US Open

By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich, Ap Tennis Writer

NEW YORK – Venus Williams arrived at this U.S. Open with a bum knee. She hadn’t played a match in more than two months. She hadn’t reached the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament in more than a year.

And now? Williams is two victories away from her first U.S. Open title since 2001.

The No. 3-seeded Williams overcame nine double-faults and a total of 33 unforced errors to beat reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.

“I want to be in the final, because then obviously it’s just one more step,” the 30-year-old Williams said. “But I’m just focused on the semis, and I don’t get too excited unless the tournament is over.”

Next up for Williams is a semifinal against defending champion Kim Clijsters, who ran her U.S. Open winning streak to 19 matches by eliminating French Open runner-up Sam Stosur 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Clijsters and Williams have split their 12 previous meetings, but the Belgian won the most recent four, including in the fourth round in New York in 2009.

“Venus is a great competitor. She’s been playing some really great tennis these last few matches,” Clijsters said. “I look forward to it. It’s a challenge.”

Williams is the only American singles player left in the 2010 tournament, because the last of the country’s 15 men in the field, 20th-seeded Sam Querrey, lost 7-6 (9), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland earlier Tuesday.

“I definitely wanted to … keep the hope going,” said Querrey, who was broken in the match’s last game. “You know, I was close.”

It’s the second consecutive year that zero U.S. men reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals, something that hadn’t ever happened before 2009. And this is the first season that the United States didn’t place a man in at least two Grand Slam quarterfinals since the French Open first admitted foreigners in 1925.

Wawrinka, who joins Roger Federer to give Switzerland two quarterfinalists at a major for the first time, takes on No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a semifinal berth. Youzhny eliminated unseeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Robredo was one of five Spanish men in fourth-round action Tuesday — and the others all played countrymen. No. 8 Fernando Verdasco closed out his thrilling 5-7, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) comeback victory over No. 10 David Ferrer — only the second match Verdasco’s ever won after dropping the opening two sets — with as spectacular a match-ending shot as any.

Nearly 4 1/2 hours in, Verdasco found the energy to sprint from the baseline up to get to a drop shot and whip a forehand around the post for a winner. Verdasco dropped to his back, let go of his racket and put his hands on his head. Then he rose for a hug with Ferrer.

Watching on TV in the locker room were No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 23 Feliciano Lopez, who were waiting to follow Clijsters and Stosur into Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I’m happy for Fernando,” Nadal said, “but at the same time, sorry for David, because he deserved to win, too, no?”

Nadal then went out and showed no mercy for Davis Cup teammate and pal Lopez, beating him 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that ended at 1:16 a.m. Wednesday. Nadal saved all four break points he faced and hasn’t been broken a single time through four matches.

Nadal’s match against Verdasco will be the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in U.S. Open history. It’s also a rematch of their classic 2009 Australian Open semifinal, a five-setter that lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes.

When Williams was asked whether she sensed any responsibility to carry American hopes, she smiled and replied: “If I felt like that, I don’t think I’d be able to even raise my arms. Thankfully, I don’t feel that way. I think my expectations are enough to deal with, so I’m just going to hopefully temper that.”

Her own expectations are based, of course, on a lengthy list of successes, including seven Grand Slam singles titles. Two came at the U.S. Open, in 2000 and 2001. But she last made the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2007, and she hasn’t played in the title match since losing to her sister Serena in 2002.

“I feel really comfortable here,” Williams said, “and it’s great to come back to a place where I have won, and a place where I’ve played well.”

Querrey-Wawrinka lasted nearly 4 1/2 hours, meaning Williams-Schiavone didn’t start on the same court until after 6 p.m.

But Williams didn’t mind the delay one bit.

“I’m a pro at waiting for my match: Singles, doubles, you name it, I’ve waited. I’ve waited for rain delays. That’s a part of tennis,” said Williams, whose other five major singles championships came at Wimbledon. “I’m a pretty laid-back person, so I don’t get too tight waiting.”

She and the sixth-seeded Schiavone both found it tough to play the way they wanted, thanks to swirling wind that Williams said made it impossible to practice serves during the warmup time, because her ball tosses kept going astray.

Still, she handled the conditions better in the end, improving to 8-0 against Schiavone.

The key was the tiebreaker, when Williams went ahead 4-0 with a backhand passing winner on the run. She moved well all evening, showing not a shred of a sign that there is anything wrong with her left knee. Williams sprained that kneecap in early August, which kept her from playing any hard-court tuneup events before heading to New York.

Schiavone, though, took the next four points to even things. Then she made it 5-all by winning a 12-stroke exchange with a volley, celebrating by skipping and pumping her fist — the sort of excellence at the net and general exuberance she showed en route to the title in Paris, where she became Italy’s first female Grand Slam champion.

But then came two shots Schiavone would come to regret. First she pushed a backhand long to give Williams a set point at 6-5. Then she sailed a forehand long to end the set.

“I’m so angry,” Schiavone would say afterward. “Instead of attacking and going for the lines, I should have played a little safer and put the ball in.”

Here is why that set was so crucial: Williams entered Tuesday with a 51-1 record at the U.S. Open when winning the first set — the only loss was 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to eventual champion Clijsters in the 2005 quarterfinals.

So while Schiavone could insist, as she did, that, “When you lose the first set, you still have every chance to win the match,” Williams is now 52-1 in New York when the opening set is hers.

“I feel like when the stakes were higher,” Williams said, “I was able to raise my game.”

Now comes the time to do that in the U.S. Open semifinals against Clijsters — and, if Williams wins that, in the final, too.

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Nadal reaches US Open quarters by beating Lopez

By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich, Ap Tennis Writer

NEW YORK – Trying to complete a career Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal has won all 12 sets he’s played so far at the 2010 U.S. Open.

He’s also won all 61 games he’s served.

Nadal moved into the U.S. Open quarterfinals and stretched his winning streak at major tournaments to 18 by beating 23rd-seeded Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that finished at 1:16 a.m. Wednesday.

The top-seeded Nadal saved all four break points he faced against Lopez and has erased all 13 he’s had to deal with this year in New York.

“I am playing well, but I am not playing — yet — at my highest level,” Nadal said. “To be in (the) quarterfinals of the U.S. Open without losing a set and without losing serve, two things must work very well: concentration and the serve.”

Nadal finished with an impressive ratio of 34 winners to 14 unforced errors against Lopez. It was a point Nadal lost, though, that might have included his top shot.

Early in the third set, Nadal did his best Roger Federer impression, chasing down a lob and, with his back to the net, hitting the ball between his legs. But unlike Federer, who pulled off that trick shot for winners at the U.S. Open both last year and this year, Nadal didn’t earn the point — because Lopez was standing at the net and calmly volleyed the ball away.

Nadal and Lopez began playing after 11 p.m. Tuesday night, because theirs was the final match on Arthur Ashe Stadium in a schedule that included a five-set men’s match, a three-set women’s match and a lengthy two-set women’s match.

“Yeah, of course, it’s difficult. You have to be awake,” Lopez said. “It’s a long day for Rafa and for me. But we knew it’s going to be like this.”

Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon this year to raise his total to eight major championships. He needs a U.S. Open title to complete a career Grand Slam.

Now Nadal will play No. 8 Fernando Verdasco in the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in U.S. Open history.

“He is a very complete player,” Nadal said. “He has all the shots, and he’s playing very well.”

It’s a rematch of their classic 2009 Australian Open semifinal, a five-setter that Nadal won in 5 hours, 14 minutes.

That’s part of Nadal’s overall 10-0 record against Verdasco.

“Everybody knows that he’s No. 1 in the world; he’s great player,” said Verdasco, who eliminated No. 10 David Ferrer in five sets Tuesday. “My record is not good against him. But I will keep trying and keep fighting.”

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Venus Williams wins against Peer Video highlights

Venus Williams wins the match and probably best attire.

Tennis player collapse video

Victoria Azarenka’s collapses during a game due to concussion.

“
was warming up in the gym prior to my match against Gisela Dulko when I fell while running a sprint. I fell forward and hit my arm and head. I was checked by the medial team before I went on court, and they were courtside for monitoring.”

I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell. I was taken to the hospital for some medical tests and have been diagnosed with a mild concussion.”

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Roger Federer’s stunning between-the-legs shot Video

The U.S. Open, the 16-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer hits an amazing between the legs shot and won the game, It was the second time he has done it. You have seen trick shot in every sport and now Roger is adding this one, and it will be included as one of the most amazing trick shot in sports. really something to watch.

Sasha Vujacic and Maria Sharapova

Who said that Tennis player and basketball player cant help each other improve their game?

Well, Sasha and Maria seems to be doing that, they had been reported to be working out in Florida preparing for their respective tournament.

Maria had been practicing really hard and exerting effort to how to beat a ball real hard, while Sasha work on his shooting skill. of course these are not true, here is the truth and let me quote Sasha Instead.

“It’s interesting,” Vujacic told FanHouse over the weekend. “She has helped me. We’ve helped each other, I think. As two pro athletes — in different sports — we both understand what the other is doing and going through, and what it takes to do well in what we do. She’s working hard. I’m working hard. It’s good together.”

Nadal and Djokovic plays tennis with no racket

Video Inside

I came across this on Youtube and found very interesting. After the practice game Rafael Nadal and Djokovic are not yet done as they challenge each other to a new game they called the Soccer Tennis.

Both showed some skills and dexterity and although Nadal showed off his moves it was not enough to defeat Team Djokovic.

Watch the video here:

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Is Maria Sharapova the best grunter?

Video inside

Maria Sharapova is considered one of the best player of the game.

She got the skill and the charisma to be rank high but does she have power to be considered the top grunter in Tennis?

I don’t mind hearing those annoying grunts if its coming from her, listen and watch!

See what yahoo thinks.

Yahoo didn’t think that she is the most annoying, who do you think beats her?

see it here

Buy Anna Kournikova For 15 Minutes

Source: http://deadspin.com

Add the Philadelphia Freedoms professional tennis team to the “Needs to Re-learn How Liam Neeson Reacts to Human Trafficking” list.

As part of its “Play with Anna Kournikova!” fund-raising effort – which urges Russian blonde enthusiasts to “Place You Bid Now” (sic) – the Freedoms are offering Anna up to a “doubles format for a total of 15 minutes.” Included in the package are “VIP Club invitations” and a “photo opportunity.”

What a country! But what means this “doubles-format hit on the Freedoms center court at Villanova University,” Philadelphia Freedom? Oh, really? Well, that’s a disappointing bait and switch.

Recommended opening bid: $2,500. If Enrique Iglesias throws in a courtside serenade, that drops to $25.

Good luck.

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Nadal Wimbeldon Champ

Rafael Nadal is now tied with Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall for having an eight grand slam.

He is that great!, Rafael Nadal beats Tomas Berdych in the men’s single’s final at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon on Sunday.

He reclaimed the Wimbledon men’s singles with his excellent performance to beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the final.

Nadal back on top after memorable title win

By Peter Bodo, MSNBC

After a disappointing 2009 in which Rafael Nadal battled injuries and sat out for some of the season, he has rebounded this year with a perfect record on clay and French Open title.

He was big, and getting bigger. Swelling up with every one of those bolo topspin forehands, expanding inside with each of those rifle-shot serves that found the corner of the box. Rafael Nadal led Robin Soderling in the Roland Garros men’s singles final 6-4, 6-2, 3-2 (with a break). But the pressure was still growing as he built his lead to 5-2, as if he were tethered to an air hose and still ballooning out like a two-story float meant to bob along on a tether in a parade. He began the match game with an ace.

It had been a rough year for Nadal, the 24-year-old youth who is redefining our ideas about clay-court tennis (although it’s difficult to imagine anyone developing a knock-off of his extreme style). There was that painful fourth-round loss to Robin Soderling right here in Paris just over a year ago. Talk of turmoil in his home. Bad knees. Missing Wimbledon. A reluctant withdrawal from the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. It was the third time he was unable to defend a Grand Slam title in a year, yet he was stymied in that effort by a better man, on the day, only once. He had three legs of a Grand Slam of Frustration, and so what if it wasn’t in a calendar year?

And along with the frustrations there were fears and doubts, for Nadal is a conscientious, humble kid who is painfully aware of how temporary glory in tennis can be—he almost seems haunted by it. When he was asked if, at any point during the past 12 months, he worried about losing it all, he said: “Sure, I think everybody have doubts, have his doubts on himself, no? I am no exception.”

Then, with three, four swings of the racquet, it suddenly was all over, really all over—doubts and all. He had won, 6-4 in the third.

Nadal fell to the clay and lay flat on his back. He got up, started for his chair, and decided he wanted to spend a little more quality time in the dirt he so loves. He did a sort of shoulder roll, like they teach toddlers in Gymboree, back onto the clay, and lay there for a little while longer.

And when he got up and finally found his chair, he buried his face in a towel, sobbing. Tears streamed down his clay-caked, transported face. And all that air, that pressure, that gas, it all escaped, hissed out as if someone had punctured the float. In just seconds, Rafa had reduced to normal size. Human size. Shrank back down into the Rafa so many know and love, a gritty young man came to realize that all those fears and anxieties were all for naught.

As it turned out, the match was not the bitter, tense, nip-and-tuck struggle that so many had hoped to see and quite a few pundits had predicted. The handwriting was on the wall, or more accurately on the red-dirt floor of the court Chatrier, from the very first game. Between points and stepping up to the service notch, Soderling seemed to move gingerly, like a sedentary fellow might on the day after he’d taken a 20-mile bicycle ride. The impression

was promulgated by the way Soderling moved and addressed the ball in the first set—the one he had to win, by almost any measure, if he hoped to become the men’s singles champion today.

Time and again, Soderling had trouble moving his substantial frame into ideal position to really load up and fire. By contrast, Nadal, who hadn’t lost a set in this tournament, was quick as a cat and just as patient, if not exactly in the leisurely manner of a cat watching a mouse hole. But he knew that it was imperative to keep the ball in play, to put pressure on Soderling all day long. As Nadal’s coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, would later say, “The plan was to go right at Soderling’s backhand, right from the first swing, and then to play as aggressively as possible from there on.”

The strategy was wise, because Soderling can do a lot of damage with his forehand. But it was also important, it seems in retrospect, to keep grinding, to wear down the Bunyanesque Swede who had fought a grueling five-set battle with Tomas Berdych in the semifinals.

The conventional wisdom is that the day off between matches at Grand Slam events gives a player adequate time for recovery. That’s true, but only in the sense that the system beats having to play every day. Occasionally some man or woman defies logic and reaches down to draw upon reserves of stamina and energy in a way that defies analysis—and biomedical knowledge. But occasionally, a fierce five-setter will also leave a guy with hurts and tender points that no 24-hour span can adequately heal. Soderling was in the second category today.

The other day, during a Tennis Channel broadcast, Martina Navratilova made a similar point when analyzing Sam Stosur’s chances in the women’s final that she would ultimately lose. Navratilova reminded viewers that sometimes the second day after a particularly grueling bout of exertion can be worse than the first.

This was my evolving theory in the first few games. By game five, my notebook posed a reminder to myself: “heavy legs for Sod?” And after the second game of the second set, in which Nadal came back from a 15-40 deficit to hold, I jotted, “The backbreaker?”

I was stimulated to write that note because of the two backhand service return errors that were critical to Nadal’s hold. Granted, they were solid serves to the backhand side. But in each case, Soderling was unable to get his shoulders turned to take one of his trademark hammer-throw swings with both hands on the racquet. Worse yet, each swing was a feeble chop/slice produced after a desultory shuffle of his Lotto gunboats.

Robin Soderling stuns Roger Federer at French Open

A year after knocking Rafael Nadal out of the tournament, Soderling upsets the defending champion and world No. 1 player. Federer’s streak of reaching at least the semifinals of a major ends at 23.

Roger Federer was pumping his fists after hitting winning volleys in the first set of his quarterfinal match against Robin Soderling Tuesday at the French Open. Federer was dancing on the tips of his toes, slip-sliding through the red clay so smoothly his socks weren’t even getting dirty.

This Federer, who had a 12-0 career record against Soderling, won the first set without much sweat, and so it became even harder to imagine this:

After making 23 straight Grand Slam semifinals, Federer is out of a major tournament in the quarterfinals. His streak of excellence was ended by the fifth-seeded Soderling, who beat the top-seeded Federer, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

“People don’t understand what a big deal that is,” said U.S. Davis Cup captain and ESPN broadcaster Patrick McEnroe of Federer’s Slam semifinal streak.

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Federer was able to joke about it afterward.

“It was a great run,” he said by phone from Paris. “Now I’ve got the quarterfinal streak going, I guess.”

If the second-seeded Rafael Nadal goes on to win the tournament, the Spaniard will replace Federer as the No. 1-ranked player next week.

A year ago that seemed unlikely after Soderling had upset Nadal at the French Open. It was the first time Nadal had ever lost at Roland Garros, but it showed that Soderling had a high-powered game that could also be used effectively on the slow French red clay.

Tuesday’s match began to turn toward Soderling in the third set after the players had returned to court after a 75-minute rain delay. In the 10th game, on his serve, Federer showed some nerves. He double-faulted at deuce and the crowd gasped.

The double fault gave Soderling a break point and the Swede won the game on the next point. Soderling then served out the set, finishing it with a stylish ace, and Federer seemed frustrated. He threw up his palms. The gesture seemed to say, “Help!”

McEnroe said that Soderling, 25, was one of the few men with strength enough on his groundstrokes to “hit through” the murky conditions at Roland Garros, with the clay playing even slower because of rain.

“The balls got heavy but I’ve played good matches in these kinds of conditions,” Soderling said. “It suits my game.”

Still, the match started as if it would be a Federer runaway. Federer won 22 of his first 24 service points. But in the first game of the second set, after being up 30-0 on his serve, Federer’s focus seemed to desert him. He lost four straight points and got broken. Soderling held his own serve the rest of the set, and suddenly Federer had lost his first set of the tournament.

McEnroe said it was too early to suggest this might be a sign of a downward trend for Federer, who rebounded to win the Australian Open last January after he had been upset in the finals of the U.S. Open last fall by Juan Martin del Potro.

“Soderling played the match of his life,” McEnroe said. “I think he kind of made the decision to go for broke today, and any opportunity he had he took it.”

Federer seemed able to shrug off the loss and already start looking ahead to grass courts of Wimbledon, where he has won six of the last seven titles.

“You take the defeat as it is,” Federer said. “You don’t think of the consequences. I guess I’m most disappointed that I can’t defend my title here. I really felt like my tennis was good enough to come here and do it again, but that was not the case today.”

Federer’s loss wasn’t the only upset of the day.

Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone, seeded 17th, became the first Italian woman to make the semifinals at the French Open since 1954 when she upset third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 6-3. She will play fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva in the semifinals. Dementieva beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Tuesday. Petrova had upset second-seeded Venus Williams in the fourth round.

Pucin reported from Los Angeles.

Nadal beats Federer in Madrid for 18th Masters win

(AP)Updated May 16, 2010 6:06 PM ET

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The way Rafael Nadal has been playing on clay, it’s hard to imagine he won’t take home a fifth French Open title this year.

Nadal improved to 15-0 on clay this season and won a record 18th Masters title Sunday, beating top-ranked Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the Madrid final.

Nadal, who will return to No. 2 in Monday’s rankings, dodged questions about being the favorite at the French Open starting May 23.

“I’m very happy with everything so far this year. I think I’ve returned to my top form and that’s the most important thing for me,” Nadal said. “Am I favorite to win at Roland Garros? I was last year and I lost.”

Nadal, hampered by nagging knee injuries last season, reversed the result of the 2009 final – the last time he and Federer faced each other – to win in Madrid for a second time and move one Masters title ahead of Andre Agassi and two in front of Federer.

“The most important thing is winning at home; winning in Madrid is a dream. After that, I think about the ranking,” said Nadal. “Against this opponent, it’s always going to be difficult.”

In the women’s final, Venus Williams was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by unseeded Aravane Rezai of France.

Nadal also won titles in Monte Carlo and Rome to become the first player to win all three titles in the same season. He has lost only two sets during that run and is 14-7 all-time against Federer, including 10-2 on clay.

“I wasn’t able to defend my title here today but I thought Rafa played an incredible clay-court season,” said Federer. “I’m looking forward to Paris now. I’m happy with my clay-court game.”

Both players struggled to hold serve early on – Nadal broke on his third attempt to go up 2-1 before the Swiss player broke back.

Nadal, who won in Madrid in 2005, went up 4-3 when Federer sent a backhand into the net after saving four break points.

Federer should have broken in the next game when Nadal’s double-fault took the score to 15-40. Solid serving from the Spaniard kept him in that game and he punched the air in celebration as he went on to take the set with a perfectly judged crosscourt forehand.

With Federer’s forehand misfiring, he hit the net to lose serve at the start of the second set before breaking back immediately.

A crosscourt backhand on the run gave Nadal another opportunity to break at 2-2 and he took it with a passing shot down the line.

Serving at 4-3, Nadal slipped over when retrieving a shot and Federer slotted the ball away for 0-30. The Swiss created a break chance with an audacious drop shot and broke to stay in the match when Nadal hit the ball long.

Nadal brought the Manolo Santana Stadium to its feet when he held serve for 5-5 by ending a fierce baseline rally with a crosscourt dropshot.

In the tiebreaker, a Federer backhand into the net gave Nadal two match points on his own serve and the Swiss saved the first with a stinging forehand winner before mis-hitting on the second to hand his rival the title.

“It’s nice that we have had a chance to play each other again and live up to the expectations with a good match, and it was a nice performance from both of us,” Federer said. “He comes up with incredible stuff. He’s Rafa Nadal after all.”

Rezai rallied from two breaks down in the second set to win her third career title in her sixth final.

The fourth-seeded Williams was seeking to win a 10th clay-court title and improve on her 12-1 record on the surface this year. It was the 70th final of her career, and she will rise to No. 2 in the rankings on Monday for the first time since May 2003.

“I probably wasn’t at the highest of my energy today. I felt a little slower than normal, but I tried hard and I feel very good about my game,” Williams said. “Sometimes you run into a player who’s red hot; they hit every shot, they don’t miss – and credit to them.”

Nadal, VWilliams reach Madrid Masters final

(AP)

MADRID — Rafael Nadal rallied past Nicolas Almagro of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 Saturday to reach the Madrid Masters final.
Venus Williams reached her first Madrid Masters final by defeating Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 6-0.
Nadal is 14-0 on clay this season, winning titles in Monte Carlo and Rome. He has lost only two sets during that run, and is looking for a record 18th Masters title. Nadal and Andre Agassi have won 17 each, with Roger Federer at 16.
The win will return Nadal to the No. 2 spot in the rankings. He will play either David Ferrer or top-ranked Roger Federer in the final.
Nadal made a string of early unforced errors, dropping serve three times in the opening set. The 24-year-old Almagro had never beaten Nadal in five previous attempts, but he kept firing forehand winners past the Spaniard.
Nadal, a four-time French Open champion, broke back in the second game. Almagro won the next game at love when his opponent hit a backhand into the net, before serving to go 4-1 up.

Nadal gave a trademark shout and pump of the fist as he broke back again, although the unseeded Almagro coolly saved two break points at 5-4 to close out the set.
In the second set, Nadal’s groundstrokes started finding their target and he broke twice and Almagro made 15 unforced errors.
Almagro sent a forehand wide in the second game of the third to hand Nadal the key break before the 2005 champion served out the victory.
Williams improved to 12-1 on clay this year after defeating Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva this week.
“I’ve played so many different players with so many different styles — some play more clay-court tennis, others just hit the ball really hard,” Williams said. “So just to come out on top so far is good, and I’m happy with my form and I’m going to try to keep that form tomorrow.”
The fourth-seeded American will play either Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic or Aravane Rezai of France.

Williams looked in control as she secured an early break to go up 3-1. The unseeded Peer responded immediately, earning three break points after firing a forehand pass down the line. Williams saved the first two before hitting a backhand into the net.
Williams eventually found rhythm on her serve, and closed out the first set after a break.
Williams showed her shot range with a deft drop-volley to take a 3-0 lead in the second set.

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