SHANGHAI, China -- David
Ferrer beat Rafael Nadal at
his own game, upsetting the
second-ranked Spaniard 4-6,
6-4, 6-3 Tuesday at the
season-ending Masters Cup.

Spanish fans, who draped
several of their national
flags around the indoor arena,
had their loyalties divided as
Nadal and Ferrer faced off in
the round-robin pa
more

SHANGHAI, China -- David
Ferrer beat Rafael Nadal at
his own game, upsetting the
second-ranked Spaniard 4-6,
6-4, 6-3 Tuesday at the
season-ending Masters Cup.

Spanish fans, who draped
several of their national
flags around the indoor arena,
had their loyalties divided as
Nadal and Ferrer faced off in
the round-robin part of the
tournament that features the
top eight men's singles
players.

With Nadal a lefty, the two
men played like mirror images
with their preference for the
baseline, sharply angled
winners and refusal to give up
on almost every shot.

Showing little respect for
each other's serves, the two
players combined for five
service breaks in the first
set, and Ferrer didn't hold
serve until his fourth
attempt. Nadal finished off
the set when Ferrer committed
his 14th unforced error off
his usually reliable
forehand.

Ferrer pulled himself together
and broke to move ahead at 5-3
and serve for the second set,
only to be left muttering to
himself after Nadal broke back
at love, the last three points
coming on clean winners. But
he shrugged off the setback to
break and even in the next
game when Nadal sent a
forehand long.

From 1-1 in the third set,
Ferrer ran off four straight
games. With both men breathing
hard from exertion, Ferrer
served for the match, only to
see Nadal break and fend off a
match point in his next
service game to pull within
5-3.

Ferrer then held at love,
finishing the match when Nadal
tried a drop shot that hung up
a little too long, giving
Ferrer enough time to smack a
backhand crosscourt winner,
then drop on his back in
relief.

Ferrer ran his record to 2-0
in the Gold Group, while Nadal
fell into a tie with France's
Richard Gasquet at 1-1. The
eighth-ranked Gasquet earlier
upset No. 3 Novak Djokovic
6-4, 6-2, virtually ending the
Serbian player's run.

The 20-year-old Djokovic, the
crowd favourite early, looked
off in every phase of his
game, overhitting his usually
reliable forehand and having
trouble with his strong serve
to fall to 0-2.

He started off listless and
was increasingly disconsolate
as the match wore on. He was
mathematically eliminated from
any chance of reaching the
semifinals.

Djokovic said he had nothing
left after playing more than
100 matches this year.

'Unfortunately again, I
couldn't be even close to my
level,' he said. 'I was
frustrated because of that. I
didn't feel so well
physically, and mentally I
just couldn't ... be so
confident on the court. I
didn't find any solutions.

'He was playing well, '
Djokovic said of Gasquet.
'He's a very talented player
and he's playing smart.'

Gasquet, the last player to
make the field, used his
backhand, one of the best in
the game, to rebound from an
opening loss to Nadal.

'Today I had nothing to lose,'
Gasquet said. 'I just had to
enjoy the moment to play in
the Masters Cup and just to
play my game. I did a perfect
match. I played a lot of
amazing shots with my
backhand.'

After Djokovic held serve to
open the match, Gasquet ran
off four games in a row to
take command. Djokovic got one
break back, but was left to
look forlornly toward his
supporters for some kind of
answers as Gasquet held at
love to take the set.

The second set was much of the
same, with Gasquet breaking
three more times.

Djokovic, who tossed his
racket in frustration twice,
won only six of his 19 service
points in the set and hit a
backhand wide for his 27th
unforced error on match
point.

Top-ranked Roger Federer lost
his opening match on Monday,
going down to No. 7 Fernando
Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-6
(1), 7-5 to snap his 15-0
record in round-robin play at
the season-ending tournament.

Category Sports

Tags tennis, , tenis, cup, shangai, david, ferrer, atp, tour, spain, españa, america, rafael, nadal, master, series, china