RAFAEL NADAL ALL FIRED UP ON HARD COURTS IN MIAMI 08
Rafael Nadal (2) will play Nikolay Davydenko (4) for the Sony Ericsson Open April 6, Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
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Nadal versus Berdych April 4, 2008 ~ 2nd set
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The Evans Report:
Rafa Rolls Into Final By Richard Evans
Friday, April 04, 2008
Rafael Nadal had never beaten Thomas Berdych on hard courts in three previous attempts. He has now. After a tough first set struggle, the world No. 2 roared into the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships here in Miami with a 7-6(6), 6-2 victory over the powerful Czech on another hot, breezy day.
The win, which demonstrated how well Nadal is adapting his game to hard courts, put him into the final here for the second time. In 2005 he lost to Roger Federer in five sets but that much anticipated clash will not be repeated following Andy Roddicks sensational victory over the Swiss in a dramatic encounter under the lights on Thursday night.
With Federer faltering in alarming fashion at 3-4 in the third set just the moment he usually becomes mentally and physically impenetrable Roddick was able to come up with just the number of whiplash serves he needed to record only his second victory over Federer in 17 attempts. Andy certainly deserved it.
Nadal showed no such signs of weakness against Berdych who remains just a notch below Roddick as a hardcourt performer. Berdych had beaten Nadal in three ATP Masters events in 2005-06 in Cincinnati, Toronto and indoors on hard in Madrid but he quickly realized he was playing a more aggressive performer today.
"Hes trying to attack more now," said Berdych. "If stays behind the baseline on this surface someone like James Blake or myself can beat him. But he has changed. It is very difficult to beat him when he plays like this. And my level went down at the end. It has been a long month in the States."
Now Berdych faces the prospect of going home to Prague and packing his clay court shoes for a Davis Cup tie against Russia in Moscow where Shamil Tarpischevs team have not lost a tie at home since the Pete Sampras-inspired victory for the United States in 1995.
Nadal needed to take a second stab at winning the first set tiebreaker. A couple of errors off raking Czech drives saw him squander three sets points from 6-3 up but, after correctly challenging a baseline call, he moved ahead again and took it 8-6. The Spaniard never released his grip on the match again and eventually reeled off the last twelve points to leave his opponent well beaten.
"I think I played very good tennis," Nadal said afterwards. "The wind was very tough and it was tough at the end of the first set when I had a lot of chances before I win it. But always I was very concentrated."
As far as being a better hardcourt player than he was in 2005, Nadal was skeptical about making direct comparisons. "In 2005 I won Montreal and Madrid so I was not bad, no? But for sure I am a more experienced and better player now."
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Rafa serving for match and interview in Espanol
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Q. Pretty incredible second set. You won the last 12 points and no unforced errors. Were you feeling pretty on top of him?
Q. Did you feel like after you doublefaulted to lose the set on the 7th set point that he kind of went away, that you defeated him mentally at that point?
Q. How much better are you as a hardcourt player now than three years ago when you were in the final here?
Q. We had a sensational match last night here. Did you watch it? Federer versus Roddick. If you did, what are your thoughts?
Q. Are you surprised that it's Andy and not Roger?
Q. I think I read something on your blog that people shouldn't be too hard on Roger. Based on last night's match, don't say that something is wrong with Roger, that he played well. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Q. You had a tough tournament in Indian Wells and took a pretty tough loss there. I was just wondering how long did it take you to overcome that emotionally or being down about that? In general, how did you deal with a loss? Because you've come back and are playing really, really well.
Q. In the first game of the match, you hit two very powerful backhands, but for the rest of the match we didn't really see that anymore. Can you explain, because you can hit that shot, why you don't do it more often?
Q. Because a lot of times you played the backhand more safe, but you can hit it very powerful, and people talk about how you should play aggressive on hard courts. It's much talked about. That's why, because you can hit the shot, and we'd like to see it more often maybe.
Q. I know you still have a match to go here, but could you look ahead to next week in the Davis Cup against Germany and your thoughts on that?
Q. Talk about your match and Andy in Dubai, and what do you have to do if you play him in the finals to beat him? Obviously return of serve is the key.
Q. But against Andy, is the key returning his serve? That it?
Q. Every player wants to wins tournaments, Grand Slams. Where does achieving the No. 1 ranking fit for you? How much of focus is there on that? What would it mean to you if that were to come?
Q. A lot of the European players tell us that this part of the calendar is very hard for them. They get tired being in the United States for a month or over five weeks. You seem to play well in these tournaments. Are you comfortable here in the United States for that long of time? And if so, why is that?
Q. Andy Murray has just announced that had Alex Corretja is going to be his coach through the clay season. Your thoughts on that whether you're surprised, because Alex is a TV guy now, and what you think he can help Andy with.
Q. Perhaps the one phase of your game that has improved the most is your serve, both first and second serve. Could you assess for us how much improvement you've made over the last two years in your serving?
12:30 P.M. SUNDAY, APRIL 6
RAFAEL NADAL
WILL PLAY
NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO
IN THE SONY ERICSSON OPEN
FINAL
KEEP THE HEAT TURNED UP
RAFA HAS GOT GREAT HEART
At Zimbio photos of Rafael Nadal against Tomas Berdych April 3, 2008 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami Day12 ~ See for credits to some of photos posted here
Labels: 2, 4, ATP, Clay Court, Florida, Hard Courts, Heart, HOT, ilovemylife, Key Biscayne, Mallorca, Miami, Nikolay Davydenko, ON FIRE, Rafael Nadal, Sandra Hammel, Sony Ericsson Open, Spain, Tennis, VAMOS
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