World No. 1 Rafael Nadal extinguished American title hopes at the BNP Paribas Open as he dismissed Andy Roddick, 6-4, 7-6(4) in semifinal action, Saturday in Indian Wells. The Spaniard will face Andy Murray in the final after the 21-year-old Scot ousted three-time champion Roger Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 earlier in the day.
Roddick had come into his semifinal match riding an 11-match winning streak, but could not figure out a way to get past the ATP World Tour Champion. He was broken in the seventh game of the opening set, and then spent the second set playing catch-up after the Spaniard twice went ahead a break of serve.
Nadal assumed a 5-3 lead after Roddick failed to convert his two break point chances in the eighth game, but then failed to close out the match in his next service game. He succeeded in putting away the victory in the tie-break, setting up match point with an ace and then seeing Roddick’s return fly wide.
“At 6-5, I started again to play a little bit more aggressive,” said Nadal. “I served a little bit more direction, so in the tie-break I did the same, having good points. That was important to keep that mentally after two times losing the serve.”
It marked the second time that Nadal had beaten Roddick in the Indian Wells semifinals. Two years ago, he defeated the American in straight sets before going on to defeat Novak Djokovic for the title.
The 22-year-old Mallorcan will be playing in his third ATP World Tour final this season, and his 42nd overall (32-9 record). He prevailed over Federer in a five-set classic at the Australian Open, and then finished runner-up to Murray at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam last month after injuring his right knee in the second set of the final.
Nadal, who has held down the World No. 1 ranking for 31 consecutive weeks since overtaking Federer at the top spot last August, is chasing his 13th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title. He stands behind Andre Agassi and Federer on the list of Masters 1000 title leaders, who have respectively won 17 and 14 titles at the premier tier on the ATP World Tour.
Nadal has a 5-2 record against Murray, but has lost their past two meetings. The two players rank fourth on the list of ATP match wins leaders this season, with records of 20-2 and 20-1 respectively, trailing just Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tommy Robredo.
“He's very complete player,” said Nadal about Murray. “He has a good serve, has very good control from the baseline, everything. He has good hands, very good drop shot, so he can play aggressive, he can play defensive. He's a very complete player.”
The 26-year-old Roddick was looking to become the third American player in the past four years to reach the Indian Wells final. James Blake had finished runner-up to Federer in 2006 and Mardy Fish to Djokovic last year.
Roddick teamed up with Fish following his semifinal match to clinch the BNP Paribas Open doubles title, saving three match points in their 3-6, 6-1, 14-12 win over defending doubles champion Andy Ram and partner Max Mirnyi.
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2740.asp)
