Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London

[CR5] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. [CR7] David Ferrer (ESP)

Ferrer has the game to trouble just about everyone and if you are off your game, he will take full advantage and beat you.  Their matches have always been fiercely competitive despite the lopsided head-to-head of 23:6 in favor of Nadal.  Nadal came out sharp and got off to the best possible start, breaking Ferrer in his first two service games to take the 3-0 lead.  Then the wheels came off and although he would wrestle and regain the lead to serve for the set at 6-5, he could not consolidate the break and lost the first set 6-7(2).  This inconsistency that continues to plague Nadal’s game is what is very disconcerting for him and his fans.  Where did the Nadal that started the match go?  Mentally he just lost it and could not regroup and the harder he tried to recover his form, the more errors he made. That is the problem with the mind, it is not an easy fix and it is also very deceptive.  Just when you think that you have mastered the problem, the slightest thing can throw you into a tail spin; however, Nadal recovered just in time to win the match 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4.

Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo defeated Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic after losing the first set and being in danger of losing the second and the match.  They won 3-6, 7-5, 10-6 and handed the Polish/Serbian team their third loss of the tournament.