Saturday 18 May 2013

ATP Rome Final Prediction: Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer

Roger Federer
There are a pair of stunning finals for tomorrow, which hopefully should eclipse what was a rather drab finals day in Madrid.  Rafael Nadal progressed to another final in 2013, his eighth in a row, which I believe takes him to number one in the Race rankings, which is pretty astonishing for many reasons including not playing the Australian Open! Nadal beat Tomas Berdych today, 6-2 6-4, who was unable to produce the same magical performance that saw him beat Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.  Nadal takes on Roger Federer in the final, a first final for Fed in 2013.  Federer beat out a very respectable effort from Benoit Paire, 7-6(5) 6-4.  The tiebreak was a real momentum swinger and Paire had his chances, but the experience of Federer saw him come through.

Nadal and Federer last played on clay in 2011 at Roland Garros when Nadal progressed through in four sets.  Nadal also won in their only encounter of 2013 at Indian Wells although Federer was hampered by an injury in that match, which ended 6-4 6-2.  Nadal's form has been quite sensational lately and it will be a very significant test for Federer who has had a few tricky players to deal with but no-one in the same league as the Spaniard.  I hope its competitive and I think it will be to a degree, but always going Rafa on the clay in this one...

Prediction - Nadal to beat Federer in 2 tight sets

Note - Apologies for yesterday when I had a semi-final preview between Djokovic and Berdych! I will try and get the right players from now on ;-)

4 comments:

  1. haha i found that amusing as well-as if U never checked the score and expected Djoko to win. I lost money on Djoko-not good to bet on him-he rigs his own matches or he is inconsistent. No surprise for me. I thought Errani had a chance if she had the brain of Vinci she could have won the match-problem is she's too preoccupied with herself when instead she should be playing a more psychological battle getting into the opponent's head.

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  2. So far from thsi year some of my heros have been from the older generation-Ferrer,Vinci,Tommy Haas,S. Williams and Federer,Stepanek. Its jsut the nature of things that the human bodies reach their physical peak at 25-26 meanwhile we're still maturing-its the sad thing about sport that while the mind is improving teh body deteriorates. In that regard I believe those afrementioned players could have no boundaries if it we'rnet for the natural nature of things...Includig Nadal ofcourse and his sensationbal comeback winning matches everyone elese would have lost!

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  3. btw I have my doubts wheter Djoko will even reach the finals of Roland Garros-anyways he is deteriorating or not catching up with the times-he needs another long injury break from Nadal.

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  4. I'm waiting for these young and up and coming players to for their break through moment-Gulbis,Dmitrov,Raonic etc etc. Its about time and the tunnel is through beating Djokovic not Nadal.

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