Nadal Outlasts Ferrer to Remain Perfect in London

November 20, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Nadal_Crop_01_2
Photo credit: Lee Seidner

Rafael Nadal continued his run at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Friday, coming back to defeat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 to finish round-robin play with a 3-0 record.

Although Nadal had already qualified for the semifinals before this match, the 14-time Grand Slam champion came out firing. He built a double-break advantage and a 3-0 lead in the opening set.

But Ferrer got both of those breaks back and evened the set at 3-3, and the set would remain on serve until 5-5, when Nadal broke Ferrer to give him an opportunity to serve for the set. Ferrer once again answered with a break of his own, and forced the match into a tiebreaker.

In the tie-breaker, Ferrer took advantage of a couple of Nadal errors to win seven of the nine points and capture the hour-long opening set.

In the second, Nadal would secure the lone break of the set to take a 5-3 lead and consolidated it with a hold to win the second and force a deciding third set.

The opening game of the third set lasted 14 minutes, but Ferrer was able to hold to take the early 1-0 lead in the decider. The set remained on serve until 4-4, when Nadal came through with the crucial break, and proceeded to serve out the set to move to 3-0 in London.

“For me it was another opportunity to compete. I think I competed well. I won a very tough match,” said Nadal. “Three straight wins against top-eight players is great news for me. That’s a positive way to finish the season. Let’s see tomorrow what’s going to happen.”

Nadal will take on world number one Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Djokovic finished second in the Stan Smith Group behind Roger Federer.

The winner of the final round-robin match between Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka this afternoon will play Federer in the other semifinal matchup. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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