The 2013 French Open has it's two finalists as Rafael Nadal will battle fellow countryman David Ferrer for the championship at Roland Garros. Here's how both guys won today, shrinking the bracket from four to just two.
For Nadal it was a battle. He and Novak Djokovic played a classic as they played for over four hours. It was the most entertaining match of the tournament as it was rightfully expected. Djokovic, the No. 1 ranked player in Men's Singles, and Nadal, the most successful tennis player at the French Open in modern history. It was a tennis matchup made in heaven.
Djokovic started out sluggish and it looked as though Nadal was going to lock this one up early. However, the Serb pushed Nadal to his limits and the match went the distance as Nadal needed five sets to win. The final score read 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-7, 9-7.
The fifth set was really well played as both players consistently exchanged blows after tying the game 4-4. Nadal finally broke one of Djokovic's serves with the score 8-7 and with the victory placed himself in the proper position to capture his fourth consecutive French Open title for the second time in his career. Overall, Nadal will be trying to capture his eighth title at Roland Garros.
His opponent, Ferrer, has seen a ton of Spaniards cross his path and if he continues to roll the way he has through the first six rounds, then Nadal is in trouble. So far in the tournament, Ferrer has yet to drop a set winning all 18 he's played at the 2013 French Open. Nadal will be the fourth fellow countryman Ferrer will play. However, it will surely be a tough matchup for Ferrer.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Frenchman who was supposed to play motivated tennis, was no competition as he lost in three straight sets. There was no doubt Ferrer was going to put the first set away. He struggled a bit in the second, but rallied back to beat Tsonga and the third set was history as he cruised to victory. Ultimately, the final score was 6-1, 7-6, 6-2 in favor of Ferrer.
At age 31, it's Ferrer finals appearances in a grand slam tournament. The bad news for Ferrer is that Nadal owns him in their head-to-head battles. Nadal is 19-4 against Ferrer and Ferrer has never beat Nadal on clay.
