This should be interesting , not a foregone conclusion after yesterdays matches . Lets hope Gonzo wins , would make the FO less predictable as well.

i'm ready for the streak to end... :pray: :pray: :pray: :pray: :pray:

Nadal will win easily. No surprises though that after his struggle in his last match, suddenly he's vulnerable, Federer can beat him, No Weapons is actually a tennis genius...

No Weapons is a bad matchup for Nadal - he won't make too many mistakes and he won't be foreced into going for stupid winners. I was surprised it was so close, but Nadal won, No Weapons won't play that well for a full match again for a long, long time, and Gonzalez will be dismissed customarily. Look how Berdych and Youzhny have gone; big hitters have little chance against him on clay. I expect another straight sets victory with Gonzo getting less than 8 games.

Started..Gonzo on serve..Let's hope he will be able to win this one.. :D Even if Rafa is so strong..But still the fatigue of the battle of yesterday (against no weapons roflmao ..Davy no weapons roflmao ) should be there and works for Gonzo if Rafa is able to win this one then he is really the monster I have suspected from the beginning of this season on clay..

And already a very difficukt game for Gonzo..Rafa is a Monster :yikes: :yikes: ..And Rafa took the service to Gonzo..How someone can stop this man??? :unsure:

Hi Wise BTW...Some contradictions here no:

Hi TV, not sure what you mean? The first comment was sarcastic, I know it's the in-thing round here to put a :rolleyes: after any such comment, but I really can't stand that smiley. Anyway, enough about No Weapons.

Nadal 4-1 up with a double break... no surprises here then. Anyone know if Nadal has officially withdrawn from Hamburg yet?

Someone is following..Wise forecast seems come true so quickly...Rafa up two breaks in the first set and he leading..5-1 serve Gonzo to stay in this set :yikes: :yikes: ...What are your feelings..

Wise Which Smiley.. :unsure:

Rafa will announce the withdrawn after the final 100% sure ;)

Morning Wise.

Nadal has not officially withdrawn yet.
But something tells me he's not going to. A win in Hamburg would get him 500 points closer to Fed.

Non preoccupatevi TV... siamo confusos :wacko:

Nadal takes the first set 6-2.

I see two Lions are playing on the Stadio Pietrangeli... what's that about? Ferreira leads Leconte 6-3, 5-4.

Afternoon chet - I'd rather Nadal skipped Hamburg to make himself fully fit for RG... would be awful if he ran out of steam in Paris. Not sure why he played so much doubles; otherwise I reckon he'd have been fine to play MC, Barca, Rome, Hamburg and RG, and win them all comfortably of course :)

You're right about the points though, would put some extra pressure on Fed.

Non mi preoccupo anch'io sono confuso di tempo in tempo..(no more italian, Wise)..

Anyway..Great start by Rafa..The man is really in another Dymension on clay..And only Davy was able to reach that Dymenssion roflmao

I am just kitting :whistle:

PS: Laconte a Lion :yikes: Come on man..As Pioline :yikes: I guess

is this a best of three ? the scoreborad seems to suggest it.

Is the best of three Chet..Why I am still answering to you is beyond me.. :rolleyes:..BTW: Rafa not going in Germany it will be very Wise..the points that count for him to catch FED are in the second part of the season and if he will do a full caly season he will be titred by then..Learning by doing ;)

Thanks TV.
No hard feelings I hope :hug:

No Chet not in this board at least roflmao

If Nadal breaks here its as good as over... :(

And he did BiG Al...We have to give the right credit to Wise here...His initial idea was correct I guess: Gonzo was never in the match today... B)

This is going to be a bagel set.

Could be..Chet BTW..Once again, I am quite sure uncle Tony will tell Rafa to skip the Germany..But might be you will be right if the final is solved so quickly.. roflmao

Seems Nadal will only lose if he breaks a leg :whistle:
Federer must be frantically ringing up Borg right now :hide:

There are only 5 matches to play at Hamburg and Nadal can have two days off and start on wednesday.

I think the tournament is played over a covered roof so its not going to be as hot as in Rome.

Well, Nadal steam rolling through this final, I didn't think it would be this easy...I expected a Nadal victory, but he's just stamping all over Gonzo. Your prediction looks accurate thus far, Wise - and I don't see Fernando doing anything to change it.

I doubt Nadal will go to Hamburg - he's got the bigger fish of RG to fry.

If Gonzo holds to 2-3, it may open up the match a little bit.

Yeah even he needs a break before the two weeks of best of five.

Well Gonzo's got one of the breaks back, so this might not be as comprehensive a mauling as was on the cards a few minutes ago.

Think I agree with you about Hamburg Sara... although I think he can fry both the smaller fish and the big fish, since they're all so badly out of water :whistle:

3-2 now, but the King of Clay still has one break.

Sure fully agree with both...

Rafa moreover knows that he has to improve his second part of the season: More energy he will use in the first more fatigue there will be in the second..He will be wise to skip and focus on RG..But we will see..

BTW nice to see back Gonzo in the match.. :D

Senora Nadal feeling the tension there...but gioco Nadal, yet again.

.

You're right there, but as Big Al says...surely even Rafa needs a break? I'd have to wonder if he was actually a human being if he powered on ad infinitum through all these tournaments!

Nadal breaks again for 5-2 and will serve it out now. Looks like another 6-2, 6-2 scoreline - he's quite fond of those at the moment isn't he?

He's just too good. Gonzo has been a bit weak today; I am not sure he believed he could win.

Doesn't matter, really - Nadal has a habit of making anyone look rather ordinary on clay.

Agree with you Sara..I will even say that Gonzo had more fighting spirit during the final at the AO than here today..But I guess Wise will not agree..i.e. implicitly this will give some credit to FED victory..Impossible (kitting Wise..but not so much ;) )

Well done to Nadal! An unprecedented third consecutive Rome title, and his third Masters title of the year. His clay streak is closing in on eighty matches. He's done a good job of defending his points, but of course the biggest task still lies before him at RG. Unfortunately Gonzalez didn't rise to the occasion--playing too many points like it was 5-4, 40-15 in the AO final :P --but the Chilean regains the No 5 spot and has also put himself back on the map after somewhat of a slump.

Any match would have been an anticlimax after the 3h30 min Davydenko semi of nonstop thrills and suspense, but I have to say I didn't quite expect such a one. Nadal was never really tested and even when he was broken in the second set due to some sloppy play (overall the Spaniard seemed to be conserving his energy throughout) there was no sense of a fightback in the cards. The scoreline is especially poor when compared to the epic 5h+, five-set finals of the past two years, although as a best of three it would have fallen short anyhow.

Nevertheless it's interesting that Nadal faced the last three men to have beaten him this year, and took them all out with 5 games or less lost. Now that's an emphatic way to take vengeance.

Yes and it proves that clay leads to a different kind of tennis.

Bravo Rafa.. what a player!! :bow:

Good to see Fena back on track too, even if he didn't quite do himself justice in the final.. :clap:

Gonzo's game doesn't match so well to Rafa's ON CLAY - Nadal gets a lot out of the heavy topspin looped crosscourt forehands to Gonzo's backhand. On the hardcourts, Nadal has less time to prepare all that topspin, with Gonzo's hard-hitting. I think I'll try and dust off my old poll on who will be next player to beat Nadal on clay - the longer Nadal's record on clay goes on, the more intriguing that poll is!