Nadal - 77

Nikolai Davydenko gave fight Rafael Nadalya in the Roman arena "Masters" in Rome brought predicted success to the ground king Rafael Nadal. In the Sunday finale, the Spaniard met with Fernando Gonzalem, who finally came to his senses after his sensational Melbourne breakthrough. However, Gonzalez did not become the main opponent of Nadal in Rome. With the most severe resistance, Rafael collided in the semifinals - in a match with Nikolai Davydenko.

A year ago, Nadal was in Rome in the balance of the defeat. In the final, he managed to play two matchballs at the first racket of the world Roger Federer. This time, the duel of the two leaders of the world tennis did not take place due to the unexpected failure of the Swiss, who in the third circle lost, to the joy of the public, the leader of the Italian tennis, the 53rd racket of the world Filippo Volar. Federer played frankly weakly, which never happened to the great and terrible at all. That is, for example, in 2004, the Swiss once defeated in two sets almost without a struggle (it is funny that from Nadal, which no one really knew then), but in 2004, Federer was not yet great and terrible. In general, account 2: 6, 4: 6 in a meeting with Wolanderi is similar to a crisis. And the impulsive dismissal of the coach - Australian Tony Rocha, who became a fact on Saturday, is even more reminiscent. On his official website, Federer said that he was grateful to the grove for the work, and generally crumbled in compliments. “For me, it was a real pleasure to work with him for several months for more than two years. I am grateful to Tony for the victims that he had to make. He left his house and family in Australia to work with me,” he said. No one doubted that Federer is a decent person. However, the fact of the resignation of the legendary coach said at least about the crisis of the genre. With great impatience, believing that Federer will make an effort to win the “Roland Garros” for the first time for the first time, they spoke about a completely different development of events - that Federer for the first time in four years risks losing leadership in the world tennis.

Meanwhile, not meeting Federer on his Roman path, Rafael Nadal was still forced to escape from defeat. In the semifinals, a real battle was given to the Spaniard by Nikolai Davydenko. The first two sets ended with tie-breaks, in the decisive rivals, rivals went on a count of 4: 4, and only at the finish line the Spaniard committed a decisive acceleration. But the main thing is that the Russian played with Nadal not at all from defense, but, on the contrary, constantly attacking and earning points thanks to his own activity. On the eve of decisive soil battles, a similar tennis of our leader cannot but inspire optimism. However, the match won Nadal, for which it was already the 76th victory in a row on earthen courts.

Tournament of the Masters series, Rome, prize pool 2 082 500 euros

1/8 finals

F. Wolar (Ita) - R. Federer (SHVC, 1) - 6: 2, 6: 4

T. Berdykh (Czech, 12) - H. Akasso (Arg) - 6: 1, 6: 2

H.-I. Chela (Arg) - E. Roddik (USA, 3) - 6: 0, 6: 4

F. Gonzalez (Chil, 6) - N. Mass (Chil) - 6: 7, 6: 3, 6: 4

T. Robredo (SPP, 7) - J. Simon (Fra) - 6: 2, 6: 2

N. Davydenko (Ros, 4) - P. Droachy (Ita) - 4: 6, 6: 2, 7: 5

N. Dzhokovic (Ser, 5) - M. Baghdatis (Kip) - 6: 2, 7: 5

R. Nadal (SPP, 2) - M. South (Ros, 15) - 6: 2, 6: 2

1/4 finals

Wolanders - Berdykh - 6: 2, 6: 3

Gonzalez - Brand - 6: 3, 6: 4

Davydenko - Robredo - 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3

Nadal - Dzhokokovic - 6: 2, 6: 3

1/2 finals

Gonzalez - Wolanders - 6: 1, 6: 2

Nadal - Davydenko - 7: 6, 6: 7, 6: 4

05/13/2007 / Alexander Shmornov, the material was published in the newspaper No. 84 dated 05/14/2007.