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| AP/Mark Terrill |
Rafael Nadal racked up his 600th ATP tour career win and a record 22nd ATM Masters shield title
by defeating Juan Martin del Potro 4-6 6-3 6-4 in the final of the 2013 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. It was the Spaniard's first hard-court title since 2010 after losing 6 consecutive hard-court finals to
Novak Djokovic over the last two years and his 3rd championship win at Indian Wells (2007 and 2009). Nadal has now only lost one match in 2013 (
a clay court final in Chile to Horacio Zeballos). The 6'6" Argentine was trying to accomplish many firsts (the first player to beat 3 of the big 4 players at the top of men's tennis to win a title; win his first ATP Masters Series shield; win his first final against Nadal; and become the first Argentine to win the Indian Wells title) but was unable to do so after playing two back-to-back come from behind 3-set victories against
Andy Murray on Friday and
Novak Djokovic on Saturday. Amazingly, Del Potro was able to come back from a 0-3 deficit in the first set to win it 6-4 and lead 2-0 and 3-1 in the 2nd set before dropping 5 consecutive games and the second set. Despite some chances when down a break in the 3rd set, he was unable to prevent Nadal from serving it out but did manage to save 3 match points on his own serve in the 9th game.
Nadal moves back up to World #4 (displacing countryman
David Ferrer) and has already withdrawn from the next ATP masters Series event,
the Sony Open in Key Biscayne, which begins on Monday. Federer had earlier announced that he would be skipping Key Biscayne as well to concentrate on preserving his body for later in the season. Djokovic and Murray
will be competing in Miami.
Watched as Delpo started complaining about line calls, etc. while up 3-1 in the 2nd set and just knew it was the beginning of the end.
ReplyDeleteWanted to see him win, but he seemed to be siezed by that possibility and became scared/cautious, and in the process...