Posted at 8:14 a.m., Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Nadal tops Federer on court of half grass, half clay
By Alex Duff
Bloomberg News Service
Second-ranked Nadal prevailed in 2 hours, 24 minutes in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, after each player had three match points in the deciding tie-break.
Nadal has a 5-0 record on clay against Federer, who won his 10 Grand Slams on hard and grass surfaces, and a 7-3 record overall in competitive matches.
Starting at the clay end, Nadal opened a 4-1 lead before the Swiss made it 4-4. Nadal eventually won the first set. After Federer took the second, the third went to a tiebreak that Nadal clinched on clay.
Both players changed shoes when they swapped ends to adjust to the different surfaces.
Nadal beat Federer in last month's Monte Carlo Masters final for a record-extending 67th straight victory on clay. Federer has a 48-match winning streak on grass.
