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Yinette PerezFrench Open Final Summary Nadal d Federer
June 13th 2006 00:07
There was a lot at stake at this year's Roland Garros Final. Roger Federer was looking to join the group of elite players who held all 4 grand slam titles, as well as be the first person since Australia's Rod Laver to hold the calender slam. Rafael Nadal was looking to extend his clay court streak as well as be the youngest player since Bjorn Bjorg to defend his Grand Slam title.
The match started very positively for Roger Federer, who broke Rafael early in the set and sped off to a convincing 5-0. It seemed that Nadal had a bout of nervousness that kept him from playing his best. Despite that, Roger only had 8 unforced errors off his racket in the first set.
The game seemed to turn around at 5-0, where Rafael finally got his numbers on the board and Roger won the match 6-1.
The second set spelled a complete reversal and Rafael seemed to be getting back into rhythm, winning the match 6-1. Roger had twice the amount of unforced errors as in the first set.
Roger had many chances in the 3rd set, including the 3rd game of the set where he had 3 break points. Unfortunately, Roger could not act on the points, all saved by Rafa, and Roger must have been frustrated because straight after Rafael broke his own serve. Rafael took the set, and lead Roger 2 sets to 1.
In the 4th set Roger lost his serve early. It seemed to be a clean victory for Rafael, who served for the match at 5-4. Roger chose this time to break back and level at 5-5, when the pressure on Rafael was the greatest. The match looked to proceed to a 5th with Roger expected to win the tiebreak.
Rafael lost his first tiebreak point and Roger was up a mini-break in the tiebreak. Unfortunately for Roger, he failed to hold his serve and Rafael got the upper hand, winning the match 6-4.
Rafael Nadal had stopped the Roger Slam. Roger will have to wait another year to see if he can prove himself on clay, having already proved himself at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the USOpen. If he should ever manage it, he will surpass even the great Pete Sampras, with the record hold of 14 Grand Slam titles.
Rafael recaps his time at Roland Garros in his blog.
*photo courtesy of ATPtennis.com*
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