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3/23/08 2:33 AM | Cheryl Murray
This was the match up everyone had been talking about since the draw came out - number two and number three battling it out for a spot in the finals. Sadly for Spaniard Rafael Nadal, the match did not come anywhere near living up to the expectations placed on it.
Nadal did not start off badly at all; at 1-1 some loose points from the racket of Serbia's Novak Djokovic gave Nadal the first break of the match. If he thought to gain some momentum with the break, the notion certainly did not last long - Djokovic went calmly about the business of breaking back immediately. Nadal held at 2-3, but at 3-4 on his serve, Djokovic gets lucky on a net cord to get the break. As soon as the game was over, Nadal ran to the sideline and asked to see a trainer - and was shocked when chair umpire Steve Ulrich told him he would have to wait until after Djokovic finished serving. An extremely disgruntled Nadal played the next game and watched as Djokovic sent an ace past him on set point.
It turns out that Nadal's injury time out was due to a large blister on his toe. After a few minutes of treatment, he was up and ready to go again. Nadal still fought in the second set, despite what the scoreline might suggest. At 2-1 on Djokovic's serve, the Spaniard battled all the way to deuce. On the first deuce point, Nadal ran down everything Djokovic threw at him, finally turning defense into offense with a blistering forehand in the back corner for the winner - and a break point. It was all to no avail, however. Nadal badly mishit a forehand to erase the break opportunity. An ace from Djokovic and another bad forehand error gave Djokovic the hold. Nadal would not win another game. Djokovic moves on to his second consecutive Pacific Life Open final, where he will take on surprise finalist, Mardy Fish.
Novak Djokovic played crisp, measured hard court tennis and will be a factor ont he surface for a long time to come.
Rafael Nadal missed numerous opportunities to give the audience the kind of show they have become accustomed to from him.
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Did you know that... Sweden won all grand Slam titles in 1988. Stefan Edberg became the Wimbledon champion and Mats Wilander was victorious in the other three.
gordana, Dec 3, 2008 9:49 AM
gordana, Dec 3, 2008 9:29 AM
RickyDimon, Dec 3, 2008 5:21 AM
tennisgirl, Dec 1, 2008 11:48 PM
lendl, Dec 1, 2008 6:17 PM
Navratilovastillplay, Dec 3, 2008 1:32 AM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:23 PM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:02 PM
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Pacific Life Open
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Tennistalk v1.3.0
not this time rafa,but next time!
still,this should be a good tournament for him since he came through a more difficult draw than djokovic and federer and he took his revenge both from tsonga and blake!
sisterofnight12 , 3/23/08 5:11 PM