The 8th Masters Series event of the year ends on Sunday in Madrid. Sports Magician takes a look at the two finalists.
Roger Federer (1) v Fernando Gonzalez (10)
Saturday's semi-finals proved not to be of the same calibre and suspense that Friday's quarter-finals produced. The final pits the Swiss world no.1, looking for the 1st indoor Masters Series title of his career, up against the Chilean 10th seed, hoping to win his 1st Masters Series event and what would be the biggest title of his career.
In the 1st semi-final of the day, Federer met David Nalbandian for the 13th time. After taking an early advantage, Federer led 4-1 in the 1st set. However, Federer-Nalbandian clashes are rarely that simple and the Argentine levelled up the set at 4-4. The first eight games were very competitive, but the next eight were not of the same standard. Federer exerted more control on the match and eventually ran away with it convincingly, 6-4 6-0. With regards to their personal duel, it is the first time in Federer's professional career that he has had a head to head lead over Nalbandian, the record currently stands at 7-6 in his favour.
Federer will be hoping to win his 4th Masters Series event of 2006, which would match the 4 he won in 2005. Of the 8 Masters Series finals this year to date, Federer has either won or been runner-up in 6 of them. He withdrew from Hamburg and was defeated by Andy Murray in Cincinnati. Both of his final defeats in Masters Series this year came on clay, against Rafael Nadal.
As predicted in Sports Magician's semi-final previews, Tomas Berdych was unable to live up to his performance from the previous evening. As in Toronto, where the Czech took out Rafael Nadal before acting as mere cannon fodder the next day, the same happened here in Madrid. This time, Fernando Gonzalez was the player to take Berdych to pieces in a crushing 6-4 6-1 victory. Berdych was public enemy no1 following his celebration versus Nadal, and he crumbled under the hostility which he had dealt with so well in the quarter-final. The Spanish crowd were out for his blood, and Gonzalez with a dominant serving performance certainly gave them what they wanted.
Not only has Gonzalez reached his 1st Masters Series final, he has now put himself in contention to make Shanghai. Should he win on Sunday, he will be only 3 race points behind 8th placed Tommy Robredo.
History suggests Gonzalez will not be lifting the title tomorrow. Federer has an overwhelming record against the Chilean, leading their head to head, 7-0. Furthermore, Gonzalez has only ever taken 2 sets off the world no1. Their last meeting was on hard court in Cincinnati this year, with Federer victorious 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. Gonzalez will have to produce a career best performance if he is to win the match, which will be a best of 5 sets encounter. They have met twice in best of 5 set matches, both in 2005 at Roland Garros and Wimbledon where Federer triumped in straight sets each time.
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