NALBANDIAN CAPTURES MADRID MASTERS TITLE
Houston Chronicle, TX
Oct 22 2007
Argentine rallies to defeat Federer; Henin tops Golovin for Zurich
crown
MADRID, SPAIN – Roger Federer should have seen it coming. One by one,
David Nalbandian was picking off the best tennis has to offer.
Nalbandian beat Federer 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Madrid
Masters. On his way to the final against the world’s top-ranked player,
Nalbandian also defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic.
"I usually play better in the finals, but it had something to do with
the way he played today," said Federer, the defending champion. "I
guess when you beat Djokovic and Nadal back-to-back, you come into
the final here very ready."
The Argentine broke Federer three times and became the second player
this year to beat the top three players en route to winning a title.
Djokovic did it in Montreal in August, culminating his run with a
victory over Federer.
Federer was playing in his first tournament since winning his fourth
straight U.S. Open six weeks ago. This was Federer’s first loss on
indoor hardcourts since Nalbandian rallied to win at the Masters Cup
in China nearly two years ago.
"His serve surprised me some and I couldn’t play as offensively
as I hoped, and when I had a chance I didn’t play it as I liked,"
Federer said. "Today, I’m not too disappointed because I had a good
tournament. I played the first four matches well."