Federer closing in on 10th title of the year
MADRID, Spain (AP) – Roger Federer moved a step closer to his 10th title of the year, routing David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-0 Saturday in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters. The top-ranked Swiss will play for the title today against 10th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who beat Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1. This is Gonzalez’s first Masters final and second consecutive final. Last week, he lost the championship match to Ivan Ljubicic in Vienna, Austria.
Federer won in 58 minutes for his 18th straight victory. He is trying to become the first player in the Open era to win 10 titles in three straight years.
“We’ll see what happens,” Federer said. “It’s different since we’ll be playing five sets. I’ve already won games 6-0 before, so it doesn’t mean much. But it’s always nice to win that way.”
Federer is 14-0 in semifinals in 2006. This was Federer’s third victory against Nalbandian in semifinals this year.
Federer and Nalbandian held serve in the first set until a passing backhand gave Federer deuce in the fourth game on his way to a break. Spreading his shots to the corners, Federer forced Nalbandian into 14 errors, with eight coming from the Argentine’s forehand.
“It has a lot to do with how he plays – and he hit a lot of errors today, which I forced him to do by playing aggressively,” Federer said.
Nalbandian fought back to win a double-break point in the seventh game of the first set. Then he held serve while facing a triple break point to make it 4-4.
Federer’s backhand produced four winners on the day, including a superb passing shot that put him in front 5-4 before he broke Nalbandian for the second time to take the set.
Federer captured the first game of the second set with one of his nine aces. A frustrated Nalbandian could do little as Federer broke him three more times.
“My second set was phenomenal,” Federer said. “I was able to put more pressure on him, and at 3-0, you start to think this is his last chance. If he plays another poor game, he won’t have a chance and you start to feel it.”
Berdych, who upset defending champion Rafael Nadal on Friday, committed 21 errors in front of a loud and unforgiving crowd. At one point, the Czech put his fingers to his lips in an effort to quiet the partisan crowd.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like a dream – it’s not a tennis crowd,” Berdych said. “In my mind, I never provoked a single guy sitting in the stands, but maybe because I beat Nadal in Spain that was the mistake.”
Gonzalez took advantage of the Czech’s shaky start and led 2-0. In the seventh game, Gonzalez failed to convert two break points.
The Chilean managed another break in the ninth game to take the set. Breaks in the second and sixth games of the second set were all Gonzalez needed.
“It was great that I had the luck of the fans being on my side,” Gonzalez said.