Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer’s five-year reign as king of Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 victory in one of the most dramatic finals seen at the All England Club. The 22-year-old Nadal survived an incredible Federer fightback to become the first Spaniard to win the grasscourt grand slam since Manuel Santana in 1966. He is also the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

After two rain interruptions the players returned to court for a third time with light fading fast and in a nerve-shredding finale the contest ended with Nadal collapsing to the dusty baseline after a Federer forehand struck the net. Read the rest of this entry »

Defending champion Roger Federer raced to a comprehensive three-set win over Frenchman Marc Gicquel to continue his breezy progress. Federer completely dominated the match after surprisingly dropping his opening service game of the match, breaking Gicquel six times on the way to a 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory in just 81 minutes.

The world number one needs four more victories next week to set a modern era record of six men’s titles in a row. He captured the first set with a booming ace and the second, after two breaks of serve, with a screaming forehand winner.

With the 53rd-ranked Gicquel completely out of his depth, the Swiss master sailed through the third with two breaks to claim his 62nd grasscourt victory in a row. Read the rest of this entry »

Top seed Roger Federer cruised to a quick-fire three-set victory over Mario Ancic to book his place in the last 16 of the French Open. The 26-year-old Federer, who is looking to win in Paris the only Grand Slam title that has eluded him, broke Ancic in the fourth game of the first set to set the tone for what turned out to be a one-sided contest.

Ancic, who is climbing back up the world rankings after missing most of last season through illness and injuries, simply had no answer to the Swiss star’s command of the exchanges either from the baseline or at the net. Read the rest of this entry »

Rafael Nadal put in an imposing performance to demolish Spanish compatriot Carlos Moya 6-1 6-3 and reach the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters. The 21-year-old French Open champion will now face 20-year-old Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in a match that will determine who carries the mantle of the world number two ranking into Roland Garros.

Nadal has been the number two to Roger Federer’s world number one ever since first claiming that position in July, 2005 after winning the first of three successive French Open trophies.

But a loss to Djokovic will hand the Serbian the coveted ranking for the first time in his young career with just one week to go until the start of Paris’ Grand Slam. Read the rest of this entry »

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic won his tenth career ATP title after coming from behind to beat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6 6-3 6-3 in the Rome Masters final. Wawrinka had the better of the early exchanges and took the first set after breaking Djokovic in the fifth game.

The 20-year-old Serbian hung in during a spell on the back foot and pulled himself back into contention with a break in the middle of the second set.

He then took Wawrinka’s serve again at the start and end of the final set to bag his fourth Masters Series crown and first on clay. The world number three Djokovic was the hot favourite going into the game against a man in his first Masters Series final.

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