The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Nadal sets up title clash with Federer

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Nadal sets up title clash with Federer

HAMBURG: Rafael Nadal proved he is the undisputed clay-court King with a pulsating 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic to reach the final of the Hamburg Masters Series on Saturday.

Nadal will go to Roland Garros in just over a week as World No. 2 after setting up a re-match of last year’s final against defending champion Roger Federer on Sunday.

In Saturday’s semifinal, with not only a place in Sunday’s final at stake, but the World No. 2 ranking behind Federer up for grabs, this was a titanic tussle between clay-court baron Nadal and rising star Djokovic.

Australian Open winner Djokovic has never beaten Nadal on clay in their three previous meetings on the surface, but he romped into a 3-0 lead in the first set and was a point away from extending the gap until Nadal responded.

The Spaniard fought back brilliantly with plenty of aggression and deep shots to the base-line to take the first set 7-5.

Djokovic rallied to take the second set 6-2 having powered his way into a 4-2 lead with some superb fore-hand shots.

Nadal dug deep to seize a 5-2 lead in the third set but needed five match points before he took the third set 6-2 after three hours and two minutes.

Federer earlier booked his place in the Hamburg final for the fifth time in his career after seeing off Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the other semifinal.

The World No. 1 was again untroubled, as he has been throughout this tournament, when he recorded a 6-3, 6-1 win over Seppi, ranked 43rd in the world, who had reached the last four of a Masters Series for the first time.

Paes-Robredo out

In doubles, Leander Paes and his partner Tommy Robredo went down fighting 3-6, 6-3, 2-10 to second-seeded pair of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in their semifinal encounter to crash out.

Sharapova pulls out

At the Italian open, Maria Sharapova pulled out of Saturday’s semifinal match with a left calf strain.

The second-seeded Russian was slated to play defending champion Jelena Jankovic.

The results: At Hamburg: ATP Hamburg Masters: Semifinals: Roger Federer bt Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-1; Rafael Nadal bt Novak Djokovic 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.

Doubles: Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic bt Leander Paes & Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-6, 10-2

At Rome: WTA Rome International: Semifinals: Jelena Jankovic w/o Maria Sharapova; Alize Cornet bt Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. — Agencies

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