ATP Tour Finals @ the O2 Arena – The Final
Posted on 29 November 2010 by Rob
Federer wins 2010 ATP Finals.
Day 8 of the ATP Tour Finals in London saw the finale of the end-of-season tournament and the finale of the 2010 ATP Tour as Roger Federer played Rafael Nadal. It seemed fitting that the two best ranked players would play each other to end a season that they’ve dominated, Federer winning the Australian Open in January whilst Nadal swept the other 3 Grand Slams in the summer and autumn.
In front of a sell-out 17,500 crowd the match started in a tense fashion, both players holding serve comfortably, Federer not managing a point on the Nadal serve until the 2nd game and not managing much more than that. It took until the 8th game before a break was seen, Nadal the first to blink, despite being up 30-0 thanks to some errant play from Federer. A double-fault comes next before a long forehand from the Spaniard and it’s 30-30.
Federer saved game point 2 points later and then a fantastic forehand gives him his first break point, which he takes with one of his trademark, powerful backhands across the court. A 5-3 lead means he’s serving for the set and he doesn’t mess around and raced out to a 40-0 lead before a tidy forehand wins him the set, 6-3.
Into the 2nd set Nadal shrugs off the loss and holds immediately. Better still for the 24-year old 2 games later when, at 2-1, he goes 40-15 ahead on Federer’s serve. Unable to take the 1st break point Federer helps him out by hitting a forehand wide and giving Rafa a 3-1 lead and control of the 2nd set. Nadal then won his service game to 30 and took a commanding 4-1 lead. Federer tried to get back into the set but failed and the World No.1 held serve with a hold to 15 and a fist pump, 6-3.
A 3 set match seemed fitting to end the 2010 ATP season and Roger Federer played magnificently in it. After 2 service holds he managed to win his 2nd service game of the set easily and then battled for a break point in resulting Nadal service game. In the whole match he’d only seen 2 break points on the Nadal serve and he took them both, this one with a nice net approach that leaves Nadal trying a pass that even he can’t pull off.
After this the Swiss kicked himself into a higher gear and consolidated his break with a service hold from 30-30 and Nadal knew the game was up when Federer saw 2 break points for a 5-1 lead, which he didn’t pass up. The last game was a formality and Roger Federer was crowned ATP Tour Finals champion 2010.
