The Spanish Play-Off
Two Spaniards, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, advanced to the Masters Cup semi-finals from the Gold Group Thursday. Rafael Nadal won the match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia and David Ferrer crushed Richard Gasquet of France.
Although a few could have forecasted Nadal’s failure to progress to the semi-finals, the Spaniard, who predictably defeated Richard Gasquet in the opening tier, yielded to David Ferrer in the second match. So, Nadal needed not only to rout Djokovic, which he did in straight sets, another condition was Ferrer's victory over Richard Gasquet.
And the hopes of Nadal materialized. Ferrer was obviously too strong for Gasquet yesterday. Today’s concern of the Spanish semi-finalists is to wait for the outcome of the Friday matches in the Red Group, which will name their opponents.
In the Red Group, Andy Roddick, who is through already, faces Roger Federer, and if he ultimately prevails, he will play Nadal in the semi-finals. But the Swiss is still the favorite of the match, his win-and-loss record for Roddick is 14-1.
Moreover, even the victory of American won’t probably suffice for creating a sensation – pushing Roger Federer out of the Master Cup play-off. The next chance of the world No. 1 is Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. Davydenko’s victory over Gonzalez would drive the Swiss to the semis should he happen to lose to Roddick today.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 16, 2007
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