Nadal Keeps Federer Under Thumb
Posted on April 24, 2006World No. 1 Roger Federer ate his "one-dimensional" player slander Sunday against Rafael Nadal when the Spaniard again bullied the Swiss about the court en route to a 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5) win in the final of the Masters Series-Monte Carlo, recording his second title of the year.
Federer's one-dimensional comment came after the semifinals and prior to the final in Monte Carlo, but now it's Nadal who can revel in his 4-1 career mark over the Swiss, and a formidable 42 match winning streak on clay.
Nadal was up a set and a break before faltering in the second, while Federer led 3-0 in the fourth-set tiebreak before failing to take it to a fifth.
"It was a very unbelievable day for me," Nadal told reporters. "It's special to begin the clay season like this. Beating Roger in the final is even more special, it's great."
As usual, Nadal's heavy left-handed spin game and high-bouncing shots drew a bevy of unforced errors from the Swiss, an alarming 78 at the final count.
FOLDHERE
"Rafael played a great match, it was tough to lose," Federer, who saw the four sets and two tiebreaks as progress, told reporters. "I played a smarter match today than last year's Paris semifinal. I have moved closer to him on clay and that's very important."
Both of Nadal's titles in 2006 have come over Federer in a final, while Federer's two lone losses in 2006 have come against Nadal.
In the doubles final, top seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi beat No. 2 seeds Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 7-6(2) for their third title of the year.
"We were in trouble in the second set quite often," Bjorkman told reporters. "We managed to come back after they served for the set and had a set point. We never got to the point where we were feeling we were going to lose. We were always keen to win and had a good fight back."
Federer's one-dimensional comment came after the semifinals and prior to the final in Monte Carlo, but now it's Nadal who can revel in his 4-1 career mark over the Swiss, and a formidable 42 match winning streak on clay.
Nadal was up a set and a break before faltering in the second, while Federer led 3-0 in the fourth-set tiebreak before failing to take it to a fifth.
"It was a very unbelievable day for me," Nadal told reporters. "It's special to begin the clay season like this. Beating Roger in the final is even more special, it's great."
As usual, Nadal's heavy left-handed spin game and high-bouncing shots drew a bevy of unforced errors from the Swiss, an alarming 78 at the final count.
FOLDHERE
"Rafael played a great match, it was tough to lose," Federer, who saw the four sets and two tiebreaks as progress, told reporters. "I played a smarter match today than last year's Paris semifinal. I have moved closer to him on clay and that's very important."
Both of Nadal's titles in 2006 have come over Federer in a final, while Federer's two lone losses in 2006 have come against Nadal.
In the doubles final, top seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi beat No. 2 seeds Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 7-6(2) for their third title of the year.
"We were in trouble in the second set quite often," Bjorkman told reporters. "We managed to come back after they served for the set and had a set point. We never got to the point where we were feeling we were going to lose. We were always keen to win and had a good fight back."