Shanghai, October 18, 2009

Rafa’s run at the Shanghai Masters Series Tournament has ended without the title after a straight set loss, 7-6(3), 6-3 to Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Sunday.

After two hours of play, Rafa tried the best he could against Davydenko but it was clear he was struggling with his serve and soon went down an early break.

He restored parity as a close-fought first set went to a tie-break which the world number eight, whose tactics were spot-on against Rafa, won with confidence.

The nerveless Russian broke again in the second set to establish control and served out the match at the first opportunity, securing the Masters title.

"Davydenko played better than me, that's tennis. I hope to come back and win next time," said Rafa during the trophy ceremony, half happy for having reached the final, and a bit upset for not winning.  

"I don't like to lose, but I had my chances. He beat me. He played [a] very good match. I just want to congratulate him, because he deserved the victory. He did very well, and with this victory probably he's closer to being in London."

“[It was] the first match after my injury comeback against one top player. I was competing all the time at very good level, trying to find solutions all the time, and I did well, but he did a little bit better than me," assessed Rafa. "I really felt I really had chances to win. So that's the first time, and that's the most positive thing for me. I fought all the time with [a] positive attitude, no physical problems. So that's very good news for me".

The champ travelled back home to Mallorca (on Sunday) where he will prepare for the end of the season.

Shanghai, October 18, 2009

Rafa Nadal is one win away from an ATP World Tour-best sixth tour-level title of the season after reaching the final of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 tournament where he will play against Nikolay Davydenko this afternoon at 4:30pm (local Shanghai time).

Yesterday’s victory wasn’t exactly the kind to be celebrated after his opponent (and one of his best friends on tour), Feliciano Lopez, became the ninth player to retire from the injury-plagued tournament when he was down 1-6, 0-3 .

"Today I was winning but it's never nice to win like this, especially against a close friend like Feliciano... I just wish both [Feli and Ljubicic] a speedy recovery”, said Rafa at his press conference referring to Ivan Ljubicic who also pulled out of the tournament during their quarter-final match.

"I was playing well today," he continued. "I'm in the final which is very good news for me. I'm very happy, it's my first final since my comeback from injury."

Top seed Rafa takes a 4-2 career lead into the final against Russian Nikolay Davydenko, whom he defeated most recently earlier this season in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell.

“He's playing very well,” assessed Rafa. “I saw his match today against Novak [Djokovic], and he did unbelievable, playing with a lot of rhythm, playing unbelievable winners and very good points at a lot of intensity. So it’s going to be a really tough match, so I will [try to] play my best without making mistakes. If not, it’s going to be impossible. I know that.”

ORDER OF PLAY: Their match is scheduled second on center court not before 4:30pm (local time). 

Vamos Rafa!

Shanghai, October 17, 2009

Top seed Rafa Nadal has moved into the final of the Shanghai Masters Series tournament tonight after his opponent (and one of his best friends on tour), Feliciano Lopez, became the ninth player to retire from the injury-plagued event.

"I was a little bit lucky yesterday," said Rafa, who made the semis when Ivan Ljubicic retired after two sets on Friday. "Today I was winning but it's never nice to win like this, especially against a close friend like Feliciano". 

"I just wish both players a speedy recovery. I'm just happy to be in the final - my first after the injury comeback."

At various points in the first set, Lopez was limping around, bothered greatly by his right foot.  He grimaced in pain at several points in the first set before needing an injury time out between sets and receiving treatment. 

Lopez went out and gave it a bit of a try in the second set but his range of motion was clearly too limited to compete in this match, let alone make a comeback.

“It hurts to put my foot on the ground, I can’t walk,” said ‘Feli’ to Rafa when they met at the net after the match.

Top seed Rafa takes a 4-2 career lead into the final against Russian Nikolay Davydenko, whom he defeated most recently earlier this season in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell.

ORDER OF PLAY: Their match is scheduled second on center court not before 4:30pm (local time). 

Vamos Rafa!

Shanghai, October 17, 2009

Rafa Nadal will go up against one of his best friends and fellow Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez in the Shanghai Masters Series semifinals tonight at 8:00pm (local time).

"I'm happy to be in the semi-finals," said Rafa after his match against Ivan Ljubicic last night, (The Croat retired with a thigh injury after winning the first set 6-3 and losing the second 3-6). "I'm also very happy for Feliciano”.

"He's been having a difficult year and this is a big result for him. He will be coming to the court with confidence. I hope to play a good match and have my chances to win."

It will be the sixth career meeting between Rafa and ‘Feli’ Lopez. The Australian Open champ leads the head-to-head series 4-1 and is 1-0 on hard courts but 0-1 on indoor carpet. Their second, third, and fourth encounters came on clay.

Lopez's lone victory over his countryman came way back in 2003, when Rafa was 17 years old and he needed a third-set tiebreaker to get past the youngster in the Basel first round.

Their last encounter was in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Master Series Tournament at this same time last year.

Vamos Rafa! 

Video courtesy of Marca/meriko100

Shanghai, October 16, 2009

Rafa Nadal has advanced to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters Series tournament this evening after Ivan Ljubicic retired with a thigh injury.

Ljubicic eased into a 6-3 lead in Shanghai with Rafa struggling to get his rhythm going, and while the current Australian Open champion raced through the gears in the second set to take it 6-3, the match was still finely balanced until Ljubicic threw in the towel.

Rafa expressed disappointment at the bitter ending as the veteran Croatian could not go on at an event peppered with pullouts all week (Ivan’s retirement became the 8th).

“I'm sorry for Ivan,” said Rafa after the match. “I wish him a fast recovery. I know how tough it is to be injured”.

In the semis, Rafa will play fellow Spaniard and one of his best friends, Feliciano Lopez who beat Sweden's Robin Soderling 7-5 (7-4) 6-3.

"I'm happy to be in the semi-finals," said Rafa. "I'm also very happy for Feliciano”.

"He's been having a difficult year and this is a big result for him. He will be coming to the court with confidence. I hope to play a good match and have my chances to win."

Vamos Rafa!

ORDER OF PLAY: Their match is scheduled on Center Court not before 8:00pm. 

Video courtesy of ATPWorldTour

Shanghai, October 16, 2009

Rafa Nadal has extended his perfect record against Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo to 5-0 at the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 tournament last night. In the pair’s first meeting since the 2006 circuit climax in Shanghai, top seed Rafa defeated No. 14 seed and Davis Cup team mate 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes for a quarter-final clash against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic on Friday evening.

"I am playing well," said Rafa. "But I played two terrible games at the start of the second set so I have to improve in situations like this if I want to beat the top players."

Rafa is 2-1 against Ljubicic on hard courts and 2-0 on clay. His first hard-court win came in the form of a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 decision at the 2005 Masters Series Miami and he prevailed later that fall 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) in a thrilling final of the Masters Series Madrid (then on indoor hard courts).

ORDER OF PLAY: The match is scheduled on Center Court not before 8pm (local time)

Vamos Rafa!

Shanghai, September 15, 2009

World No. 2, and top seed at the Shanghai Masters Series Tournament, Rafa Nadal took no time to beat fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-1 6-4 this evening and has set up a clash with Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The world number two took just an hour and a half to beat Robredo, taking his head-to-head record against his compatriot to 5-0, without the loss of a single set.

Rafa romped through the first set but went 2-0 down in the second before quickly breaking back, then levelling at 4-4.He broke Robredo to love in the ninth game and then went 40-0 up on his own serve before his 14th-seeded opponent saved a match-point.

Rafa then faulted with his next serve, but his wickedly-spinning second attempt forced Robredo to hit his return high and wide.

"I am playing well, but we will see tomorrow," said Rafa after the match. "When you come back after injury, you can't think more than the next day. I think when you are playing more matches, you win more matches, you have more confidence."

The Australian Open champ didn't seem to be pleased with his game today, "I need more weeks, I think. I need to play very well all the time, not like today. For example, in my opinion, the beginning of the second set was very important, because I was playing really well, 6-1, having the control of the match, playing aggressive," admitted Rafa. "Tommy didn't have lot of chances.  So [I] played two bad games in the beginning of the second and the set was difficult."

HEAD-T0-HEAD AGAINST LJUBICIC

Ljubicic has one career victory over Rafa but that result came in 2005. Since that loss Rafa has claimed 4 consecutive victories over the Croat, two on clay, two on hard court.

Vamos Rafa!

Youtube Video: Rtve.es | meriko100

Shanghai, October 15, 2009

Rafa Nadal prevailed 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, against America's James Blake last night, (a score almost identical to when they played at the China Open in Beijing a couple of weeks ago) and will now play Tommy Robredo (his compatriot), in the third round of the Shanghai Masters Series Tournament on Thursday night, not before 8:00pm (local time).

"If it [my form] is like this and I continue with this motivation, maybe not this year but next year, I am going to come back to play my best tennis," Rafa said. "I am happy with how I am playing and right now I have to play my best tennis in the big matches. I lost a few important matches after I came back from the injury and that's normal, because you need confidence to play against the best players. Victories like today's give me extra confidence, and playing like this I hope to have chances to win tournaments."

 "This end of the season is tough for everyone except for me this year," Rafa said. "When you put the body all the time at the limit, it is difficult. It's the same as Formula 1. They have the best cars in the world, but at the same time these cars are broken more than your car. That's the reason, because the car is always at the limit. So we are the same."

Rafa has a 4-0 lifetime head-to-head record against Robredo and has not lost a set in those four matches. The pair have not played since the 2006 Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup.

Vamos Rafa!

Shanghai, October 14, 2009

Rafa Nadal has booked a spot in the third round of the Shanghai Masters Series tournament this evening after beating American James Blake in three sets 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4.

Rafa produced some trademark blistering ground strokes in the first set to move into a comfortable 6-2 lead, but as the second went the distance, it was Blake who came out on top, taking the tie-break 7-4.

The third set saw Rafa regain his dominance with a crucial break of serve in the sixth game, leaving the current Australian Open champion the chance to serve for a 5-2 lead in the decider.

But Blake immediately broke back before holding serve and level the scores at 4-4 only for Rafa to show his undeniable fighting spirit and high-quality winners to clinch the victory.

"I'm not sure if I'm playing my best at the moment," said Rafa after the match. "I think I could do with quite a few matches in a row to get back my confidence and get back to my top level".

"It's always hard to play against James because he always goes for his shots. I served well and I started well but he came back into it at the end and I had to fight for the win in the final set."

He will now meet fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo, the 14th seed, who saved three match points in the second set tie-break to defeat qualifier Florian Mayer of Germany 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4.

Vamos Rafa!

Shanghai, October 13, 2009

Rafa Nadal will start his Shanghai Masters Series tournament campaign on Wednesday against American James Blake. Their match is scheduled third on Center Court, and will not start before 6 p.m (local time.)

The duo met last week in Beijing, with Rafa winning in three tough sets. Blake and Rafa have met six times on the ATP World tour, each man winning three matches.

This is what James had to say about Rafa:

"I played Rafa last week [in Beijing]," said Blake. "I know how difficult it is to play him. I know how much he makes you run, how hard he makes you work, how great defence he plays. I know what I'm in for, and I'll just prepare [the] same way I did last week."

RAFA THE ‘ROCK STAR’

Apparently, during Rafa’s training session yesterday, “there was about a thousand people there on the court watching,” or at least that’s what a journalist told Rafa during his press conference. The champ of course feels very humbled by all the attention he gets and appreciates the ‘rock star’ treatment.

“Here the fans are very emotional with me all the time. They show these emotions a lot. That makes me feel very well, no? So I you know, every time when I come here, I feel it really well, and it sure is very special for me, no?” he said.

“[There is] a lot of people waiting at the hotel, here or Beijing. I had an amazing experience last year with the Olympics, and I had two years of experience, very good experience here playing the Masters Cup. So the people is very nice, and, well, yeah, very nice with me all the time, no? Just can say thank you very much, everybody here in China”.

Vamos Rafa!

Video: TVE.es /gandaines