Federer-Murray To Clash in US Open Final Rematch
Second seed and 2006 titlist Roger Federer of Switzerland set up a repeat of last month’s US Open final against Scottish No. 4 seed Andy Murray at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid on Friday.
Federer (pictured left) improved to 17-3 at the ATP Masters Series event after beating No. 9 seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 in 89 minutes. The Swiss superstar won 72 per cent of service points and converted three of nine break point opportunities. He improved to 58-12 on the season, highlighted by three titles at Estoril (d. Davydenko), Halle (d. Kohlschreiber) and the US Open (d. Murray) that represented his 13th career Grand Slam crown. By winning his second round match over Stepanek on Wednesday Federer picked up 24,200 Euros ($32,248) to surpass Pete Sampras as the all-time leader in career prize money in men's tennis. Sampras earned $43,280,489 during his outstanding career and Federer came into Madrid with $43,268,419.
Del Potro began the match serving big, but Federer said that he didn't panic."I think he started off playing great, serving many aces... (but) I have the ability to stay calm and wait for my chance. I know that the guy won´t serve four aces per game against me, so I will always hang in there. From the baseline I played well, I used my slice well, which is a good option here in Madrid where the conditions are pretty quick. He was pretty predictable for me, which was obviously a big bonus. When I had to, I played well and served well."
Watch Federer's post-match interview
Watch live matches, highlights, features and more at ATP Masters Series TV
Del Potro, who stands at No. 8 in the ATP 2008 Race just one point behind No. 7-placed David Ferrer of Spain, struck 12 aces but struggled for consistency against the serve and forehand dominated game of Federer. The 20-year-old Tandil resident has enjoyed a stellar season, which includes four straight ATP titles at Stuttgart (d. Gasquet), Kitzbuhel (d. Melzer), Washington (d. Troicki) and Los Angeles (d. Roddick) prior to a quarterfinal exit at the US Open (l. to Murray) that snapped a 23-match winning streak. Two weeks ago, he reached the Tokyo quarterfinals (l. Berdych). He dropped to a 41-11 season record.
Murray (pictured right) produced a master class performance in his quarterfinal clash in the first singles match of the day. The Scot improved to 46-14 on the season, after beating Gael Monfils — last week's Vienna finalist (l. to Petzschner) — 6-2, 6-2 in 68 minutes on Pista Central. The pair was meeting for the first time since 2006 Roland Garros. Murray improved to 9-1 against Frenchmen in 2008.
“I’ve been playing great in practice and hopefully I can keep doing it in matches,” said Murray. “I’m not putting a whole lump of pressure on myself to win every time, I’m just going out and playing and playing well because of that. Playing against Federer is always a great challenge. I’ve played well against him in the past, apart from at the US Open, which wasn’t so good. I’ll definitely be much more relaxed tomorrow than in New York.
“I plan on playing better than in New York. I wasn’t particularly happy with how I played. I’m definitely much better prepared to play him tomorrow if I have to. In the US Open, it was tough playing Nadal on two consecutive days to then have to play Federer in my first Slam final, is not the best way to go up against him. But here I’ve had quick matches and he’s probably going to have a tough one today and hopefully tomorrow, I’ll play better.”
The 21-year-old Murray, who qualified for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai — the prestigious circuit-ending finale in November — after finishing runner-up to Federer at Flushing Meadows, added 20 points to his 2008 ATP Race total by reaching the Madrid semifinals for the first time. Murray has captured three ATP titles at Doha (d. Wawrinka), Marseille (d. Ancic) and ATP Masters Series Cincinnati (d. Djokovic) and is currently placed No. 4 in the ATP 2008 Race on 565 points — 349 points behind No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia. The 22-year-old Monfils, who moved up two places to No. 14 in the ATP 2008 Race this week, dropped to 29-16 on the season.
Read more...
Roger Federer is at No. 5 Rank in Forbes Magazine's latest list of Best-Paid Celebs Under 30, earning a total of $35 million from on-court prize money and sponsorship deals added together.
The official calendar of ATP World Tour is out now and its featuring players from 12 different countries. The price is just $13.
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco beat Argentine Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the 4th rubber of the tie to clinch 2008 Davis Cup World Group final for Spain. This is for the 3rd time that Spain has won the ITF Mens team tennis championship.