Hamburg: Roger-Rafa Final

What a see-saw match for Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the semis of the Hamburg Masters…with so much at stake too! A No. 2 ranking on the line, the second seed for the French Open, bragging rights…and my boy Rafa pulled through.

Rafa took the first set in a tightly contested 7-5 struggle. Novak came back and blew Rafa off the court with a 6-2 second set, but Rafa turned it back around and handed Novak a dose of his own medicine and won the third set at 6-2 after an agonizing struggle for match point.

Obviously, you have to give Nadal the edge whenever he’s playing on clay. I don’t care who he’s playing or even if he winds up losing the match, you’ve got to give the edge to Nadal when it comes to clay court tournaments. He proved that today in a highly-touted match against Djokovic, and he came through with the goods.

And with Roger Federer in the finals after breezing past Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-1, it should be a good final. But I’m still going to give Rafa the edge…despite the fact that Federer is in the hunt for his fifth title here, that he had a much easier semifinal match and that he’s number one. Sometimes numbers just don’t mean a whole lot, ya know?

(Image: Newscom)
Rafael Nadal went three sets in his victory over Novak Djokovic at the Hamburg Masters.