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Federer, Nadal in Wimbledon final
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal take on each other in the finals of the men's singles in Wimbledon on Sunday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:35 am IST
Read Time: 2 min
Wimbledon:
It's Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal in another Grand Slam final.
Federer, hitting breathtaking winners from all parts of the court, overwhelmed Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-0, 6-2 in 77 minutes on Saturday to close in on his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title.
With the loss of only four games by Federer, it was the most one-sided men's semifinal at Wimbledon since the tournament adopted its current format in 1922.
Nadal, the two-time French Open champion, continued his stunning run on grass by beating Marcos Baghdatis, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 to reach his first Wimbledon championship.
Nadal has beaten Federer in four finals this year, including at the French Open last month, and has a 6-1 career edge. Federer is 55-0 against all other players this year.
The 20-year-old Nadal is bidding to become the first Spaniard to win the title here since Manolo Santana in 1966, and the first player to win the French and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
It's the first time since 1952 that the same players have reached back-to-back finals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
While Federer came into the tournament as the overwhelming favorite, few expected Nadal to get very far. He's won a record 60 straight clay-court matches but had little expectations in only his fifth grass-court event.
Nadal was close to tears after the match.
"I'm very emotional," he said. "It's amazing to be in the finals."
While Federer's victory was lopsided, Nadal had to work extremely hard to hold off a spirited challenge from Baghdatis, the 21-year-old Australian Open runner-up from Cyprus.
The match lasted just under two and a half hours, and the second set produced some of the best tennis and drama of the tournament.
Nadal saved all nine break points against him and broke five times. He hasn't dropped serve since the second round and has won 15 sets in a row.
After putting away an overhead on match point, Nadal dropped to his knees, leaned back and pumped both arms three times. After the handshake, he went back to the center of the court, fell to his knees again and raised his arms as the crowd gave him a rousing ovation. (AP)

Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis
Wimbledon 2011
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