Federer-Nadal XXVI: Federer Demolishes Nadal 63 60

AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK

World #4 Roger Federer played his arch-rival World #2 Rafael Nadal for the 26th time on Wednesday, and as I predicted, he won his first match against the Spaniard in 2011. However, no one could have predicted the 30-year-old Swiss maestro would pull off his most comprehensive defeat of Nadal in their long rivalry.

Federer won 6-3 6-0 in just over 1 hour. The result was never in doubt after the 5th game of the match. Nadal did not play badly (he had a Wozniacki-like 4 winners and 7 unforced errors) but Federer was dominant in every category, blasting 28 winners to only 8 unforced errors. Federer broke Nadal 4 times in 6 chances, one of his highest breakpoint conversions ever. Nadal was able to win only 9 points in the second set (to Federer's 28). This was the third time that Federer had won a 6-0 set against Nadal (the others being the 2006 Wimbledon final and 2007 Hamburg Masters final). Nadal still leads their career head-to-head with 18 wins to 8 losses.

By winning so easily (dropping only 1 set and winning 4) Federer became the first player to qualify for the semifinal elimination round. The winner of the match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nadal will decided the other semifinalist from Group B. Federer is the defending champion and is on a quest to become the first player to win the tour's year-ending championship for the 6th time.

In Group A, Andy Murray withdrew from the tournament due to the groin injury he was nursing in his loss to David Ferrer, which means that either Novak Djokovic, Ferrer or Tomas Berdych will be the 2 semifinalists. Janko Tipsarevic will replace Murray but since the tournament is a round-robin which has already commenced he has no chance to advance but he could get some serious cash. On Wednesday, Tipsarevic will face Berdych and Djokovic will face Ferrer.