Tennis Acumen

Fernando Verdasco Wins Biggest Tourney of Career in Barcelona

PETE ZIEBRON

 
 Fernando Verdasco now 9-1 on clay in 2010 (Charles Gabrean Photography)

Fernando Verdasco won the 5^th and most prestigious tournament of his career, defeating number 2 seed Robin Soderling 6-3 4-6 6-3 to win the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell ATP World Tour 500.  All 4 of Verdasco’s previous wins were ATP World Tour 250 tournaments.  Earlier this year Verdasco defeated Andy Roddick to win the title in San Jose and now joins Marin Cilic, Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero as the only two-time Champions in 2010.

 

Verdasco’s appearance in the Final was the 14^th consecutive time that a Spaniard played a Final in Barcelona and the 11^th time that a Spaniard won the event, including the last 8: (Spaniards in red)

 

         ’10 Verdasco d. Soderling

         ’09 Nadal d. Ferrer

         ’08 Nadal d. Ferrer

         ’07 Nadal d. Canas

         ’06 Nadal d. Robredo

         ’05 Nadal d. Ferrero

         ’04 Robredo d. Gaudio

         ’03 Moya d. Safin

         ’02 Gaudio d. Costa

         ’01 Ferrero d. Moya

         ’00 Safin d. Ferrero

         ’99 Mantilla d. Alami

         ’98 T. Martin d. Berasategui

         ’97 Costa d. Portas

 

Verdasco came dangerously close to being eliminated twice in the tournament.  In his third round match against Jurgen Melzer, he was two points away from being dismissed in straight sets.  Yesterday, against David Ferrer, a Barcelona Finalist for the past two years, Verdasco was down a set and then staved off game points at 6-5 in the second set that would have led to a tiebreaker.  Instead in both matches, Verdasco found a way to steady his game just enough to get through.

 

The march toward Roland Garros continues next week in Rome at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia Masters 1000 where Rafael Nadal will attempt to win the tournament for a second consecutive time and for the fifth time in six years and Roger Federer will make his 2010 debut on clay.  If the seeds hold form, Nadal and Federer would meet in the Rome Semifinals.

Seis!!!!!! Nadal Steamrolls Field En Route to Historic Title in Monte Carlo

PETE ZIEBRON

 

Rafael Nadal dropped only 14 games in 10 sets of tennis to win the 2010 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 1000.  With the win, Nadal becomes the only man in the Open Era to win a tennis tournament for six consecutive years.

 

How dominating is Nadal in Monte Carlo?  In the 6- year title run, he has an unbelievable 66-5 record in sets won against formidable foes.  In 3 of Nadal’s wins this year, his opponent only managed to win a single game, including the  6-0 6-1 Final against countryman Fernando Verdasco, who made his Masters 1000 Finals debut today in Monte Carlo.

 

Those fortunate to be able to win one set against Nadal in Monte Carlo include:

 

• ‘09 Final: Djokovic 6-3 2-6 6-1
• ’06 Final: Federer 6-2 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6(5)
• ’06 Semi: Gaudio 5-7 6-1 6-1
• ’05 Final: Coria 6-3 6-1 0-6 7-5
• ’05 Semi: Gasquet 6-7(6) 6-4 6-3

 

Despite dropping the opening service game of the match at love as well as the first two points on Nadal’s serve in the next game, Verdasco held his ground and was able to battle back to deuce.  However, after Nadal won the next point, Verdasco appeared to rally back to deuce as he charged the net and hit a blazing forehand deep into the corner of the court.  Somehow, Nadal tracked down the laser and returned it for a winner.  A stunned Verdasco was never the same, managed to win one game all day and falls to 0-10 lifetime v. Nadal.

 

The tournament featured a dominant effort by Spanish players, the two-time defending Davis Cup Champions.  5 Spaniards reached the quarter-finals, 3 advanced to the semis and the Final itself was an all-Spanish affair.  8 Spanish reside in the top 35 in the world and 13 in the top 100.

 

The victory, Nadal’s first of any kind since the Masters 1000 in Rome in early May of last year, was his 16^th Masters 1000 title, tying him with Roger Federer for 2^nd all-time, one behind Andre Agassi, who owns 17 Masters 1000 titles.

 

Nadal and most of the rest of the tour will continue the clay court season next week in Barcelona.  Due to the lingering ash from the recent volcano in Iceland, the ATP arranged for coach transportation to Barcelona for many of the players who are still in Monte Carlo.

 

New Balls Please? Roddick Joins Ljubicic as Rare Masters 1000 Champ

PETE ZIEBRON

Nadal, Rest of the Big 4 Struggle Mightily in First Two 2010 Masters 1000’s 

 Rafael Nadal has gone nearly a year without a title. (Pete Ziebron Images)

With all due respect to Ivan Ljubicic, Andy Roddick, Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych, what has happened to the “Big 4” of tennis at Indian Wells and Key Biscayne?

 

• The top four (Federer, Djokovic, Murray & Nadal) who have won 22 of the last 25 Masters 1000 tournaments in 2007-2009 have all but disappeared to begin the Masters 1000 campaign in 2010. 

 

Ivan Ljubicic won in Indian Wells and Andy Roddick defeated Tomas Berdych 7-5 6-4 to claim the Masters 1000 in Key Biscayne on Sunday and win his first Masters 1000 tourney since Cincinnati in August, 2006.

 

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all failed to play high caliber tennis and only #4 Rafael Nadal managed to make the semifinals of the Masters 1000 tournaments this March in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne.  Nadal lost both semifinals, extending a title drought dating back to early May 2009.  The last time the world has seen Nadal bite into a Championship trophy was at last year’s Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.

 

Watching Roger Federer throw away 3 Match Points and missing forehands by a large margin v. Marcos Baghdatis in Indian Wells was a shock.  Clawing his way back and failing to convert yet another Match Point in the 4^th round in Key Biscayne against Tomas Berdych was yet another surprise. 

 

World number 2 Novak Djokovic first started to reveal signs of doubt in his 5 set Davis Cup win against American John Isner last month in Belgrade.  Isner, who was playing 13 sets of tennis in 3 days, nearly prevailed against Djokovic, whose serve was in the early stages of failing him.

 

Djokovic wilted in the California desert heat in Indian Wells and combined with the strong serving of Ivan Ljubicic, bowed out in California in the 4^th round.  Djokovic then crashed in his first match in Key Biscayne against world #59 Olivier Rochus.

 

Defending Key Biscayne Champion Andy Murray failed to defend his title when he fell to Mardy Fish in his first match of the tournament.  Murray claimed that he may need to work on the mental part of his game going forward.  In Indian Wells, Murray was fortunate to serve his way out of trouble against scrappy American Michael Russell in the 3^rd round.  It appeared that Murray may have tweaked a heavily taped ankle in the match and appeared to glance at the ankle several times in his quarterfinal loss to Robin Soderling.

 

The recent failure of the Big 4 to advance deep into tournaments is allowing a redistribution of valuable Masters 1000 points to be scooped up by the likes of Roddick, Ljubicic, Berdych and Soderling.  Meanwhile, the rest of the field will begin to believe that they have a chance to beat the Top 4 going forward.

 

• Federer has only 2 wins in his last 24 Masters 1000 tournaments (Cincinnati 2009 & Madrid 2009). Nadal had won 5 of 7 tournaments, including the Australian Open and 3 Masters 1000 crowns prior to losing to Federer in Madrid and Soderling at Roland Garros last year.

 

Since the Soderling loss, Nadal has not won a tournament in his last 12 attempts, a drought of 336 days. However Nadal’s clay court campaign will get underway in 7 days at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 1000 when he will attempt to win the tournament for the 6^th consecutive time.