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Nalbandian ends Federer's 35-win streak to lift Masters Cup
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-20 21:35
He needed treatment for his left thigh after the fifth game of the fourth
set, telling the trainer he was almost exhausted.
The final was the only scheduled best-of-five set match in the tournament.
Federer had dropped a set in each of his three round-robin wins, then had a 6-0,
6-0 semifinal win over Gaston Gaudio on Saturday night — the first
"double-bagel" in his career. It was also the first love-love result at the
year-ending tournament, which began in 1970.
But that game-winning sequence stopped when Nalbandian broke Federer to open
the final. After trading breaks in each of the first two sets and clinging on in
tiebreakers.
Nalbandian's luck changed when he swapped his sweat-soaked black shirt for a
red one. He'd wasted three set points and then spiked his racket into the court
after the second set. He won 16 of the next 19 games.
Federer twice gave Nalbandian break-point chances with double-faults in the
fifth set and once surrendering a break with a double-fault. He finished with
eight for the match.
Groups of fans wearing red-and-white Swiss shirts willed Federer back into
the match. His girlfriend, Mirka Vavrinec, urged him to "hang on."
After winning only five points in the first four games of the fifth, Federer
broke Nalbandian three times. The Argentine recovered to force a tiebreaker and
then led it 2-0. Federer hung his head after missing a volley to fall behind 4-2
and won only one more point.
His season ended at 81-4. After a few weeks off, he's planning to start all
over again in Qatar in January.
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