News / Sports
Raphael Nadal Punches Ticket to French Open Final, Looks for Third Straight Title
If Raphael Nadal is to capture his third straight French Open title he’ll have to knock off the world’s number one player, Roger Federer. Not to worry, Nadal did it last year at Roland Garros for number two.
Earlier in the day Roger Federer escaped a three-set fiasco against Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) to earn a trip to the French Open finals. For Nadal, the road to the finals was a little easier. The Spaniard knocked off Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 to continue his quest to become the first man since Bjorn Borg to capture three straight titles at the French Open.
If you want to measure just how dominant Nadal is on the clay courts of Roland Garros all you have to do is look at his record. With his win over Djokovic on Friday Nadal improved to 20-0 in his career.
The Sunday battle between Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal will pit the games two premier players and the outcome will be historic regardless who wins. For Federer, he is chasing the only Grand Slam title he has yet to capture. Nadal is looking to become the first man to win three straight since Borg ran off four consecutive French Open titles from 1978-81.
Nadal is still a long way off from Ken Roswell’s seven straight French Open titles.
Despite Nadal’s dominance on the clay courts Roger Federer does have hope. He beat Nadal on the same surface at the Hamburg Masters last month accounting for his lone victory in six efforts on clay.
A victory on Sunday would not only give Federer a career Grand Slam but would be his fourth straight Grand Slam title, an accomplishment last done by Rod Laver in 1969.
