It was a successful invasion of Nadal's territory as Novak Djokovic ended Rafa's reign on clay and kept his own streak in tact. Nadal's massive 37-match clay court winning streak, dating back the Madrid final in '09 is now history while Djokovic's consecutive victories streak marches on, now at 34 (32-0 in 2011) and puts him only behind John McEnroe's 42-0 start in 1984 in terms of consecutive wins to begin a season. The win was also Djokovic's first in ten tries over Nadal on clay.
Djokovic defeating Nadal 7-5, 6-4 in Madrid yesterday, giving him his 6th title of 2011, 24th career title, and 8th Masters title. He has now won more titles this year than any other year of his career surpassing the 5 titles he won in 2007 and 2009. He moves into a tie (with Muster) for 5th on the all-time Masters wins list, trailing Nadal, Agassi/Federer, and Sampras.
Djokovic had looked a little shaky against Bellucci and Ferrer, so I was expecting Nadal to cruise, especially after seeing him up his level against Federer in the 2nd and 3rd sets. The sky is the limit now for the Serb and we may be looking at a season to rival some of the best ever. Should Nadal fail to make the quarterfinals in Rome, Djokovic could take over the world no. 1 by winning the tournament. Regardless of what happens in Rome, Djokovic would have to lose fairly early somewhere to fail to take no. 1 soon since Nadal cannot add points at the French Open or Wimbledon.
I was also impressed with Federer's level during the second half of the first set in his 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 loss to Nadal and if Federer can somehow play at that level for extended periods of time, he can still win any match he plays. Remember it was Federer who last beat Djokovic, and actually beat him the last 3 times (Shanghai, Basel, London).
In women's action, it looks as if Victoria Azarenka was going to cruise through to another big title, but then seemingly from nowhere came Petra Kvitova to take the Madrid crown from her, winning 7-6(3), 6-4. The Czech wins her 3rd title of this season and 4th of her career, but easily her biggest title to date. She also took down a number of big names along the way, knocking off Dulgheru, Scheepers, Zvonareva, Cibulkova, and Li in that order before defeating Azarenka. This win moves her into the top 10 and perhaps adds another name to the growing pool of Roland Garros contenders.
Despite the loss in the final, it was a great tournament for Azarenka who is still probably the hottest player on the tour and has moved up to world no. 4. She did win the doubles in Madrid with Kirilenko and while she didn't play a seeded player in Madrid until Kvitova, looked very convincing in sweeping through her half of the draw, dropping just one set to Safarova. And she hadn't actually lost since Indian Wells since she retired up a set against Goerges in Stuttgart. Kvitova is playing a challenger in Prague this week but we'll see if Azarenka can keep it going this week in Rome.
I also wanted to mention the results of the lower group Fed Cup action. In Europe/Africa Zonal Group II, Portugal and Bosnia regained their places in Zonal Group I after just being relegated last year. They beat Georgia and Finland in the finals, respectively. Morocco and Armenia were relegated to Zonal Group III. For Morocco it was only a one year stay in the higher group. In Europe/Africa Zonal Group III competition, South Africa and Montenegro defeated host Egypt and Tunisia, respectively, to book their places in Zonal Group II for next year. South Africa returns after being relegated last year.
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