Nadal Seals Spain's Place in Final
A brilliant display by Rafael Nadal has seen Spain into its third Davis Cup
by BNP Paribas final in five years. The 18-year-old came in to replace his
fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya, who was struggling with shoulder and knee
problems, and produced one of the best performances of his career to beat
Arnaud Clement 64 61 62.
"I think I never felt as great as this," said Nadal after being showered with
champagne following his impressive win. "With all the crowd and all the
players in the team, I'm very happy."
He wasn't the only one! Ten thousand fans in the Alicante bull ring cheered
Nadal to what the player admitted was probably the best match he had played.
He started slowly dropping his opening service game to 15, and for the first
five games Clement was playing with his head and giving every indication that
he might take the semifinal to a live fifth rubber.
Clement's level then dropped off a little, allowing Nadal to break back for
3-3. And after that the lefthander (who does everything else with his right
hand) hardly made another mistake. A low-flying aircraft swooped over the
bull ring at 3-3 deuce, and had Clement known what was to follow, he would
probably have asked to be swept away to safety.
Nadal was brilliant, and a point in the first game of the third set must have
demoralised the Frenchman. Clement did everything right, and seemed to have
won the point with a drop volley. But Nadal raced to it, and ended up winning
the ensuing volley rally with a brilliant reflex lob.
After a run of 10 straight games, Nadal had match point at 5-0 in the third
set. He finally made a mistake, netting a forehand, and then saw Clement win
two games. But it was only to make the score respectable, and a backhand
crosscourt winner saw Nadal and Spain to victory in two hours 14 minutes.
The win provided adequate cover for a morning of mild chaos in the Spanish
team. Nadal admitted after his win that he had been told yesterday he was
likely to play the first reverse singles, but then when practising with Juan
Carlos Ferrero on Sunday morning, Ferrero felt a blister on his right hand
would prevent him from playing, so Tommy Robredo would have to jump in.
Spain's captain Jordi Arrese then tried to change Nadal's nomination by
asking for Robredo to face Clement and Nadal to play Paul-Henri Mathieu in
the fifth rubber, but they were a few minutes too late.
As it happened, it didn't matter, and the way Nadal played suggests he would
have been the best choice for the fourth rubber anyway. It also leaves the
question of whether he might play singles in the final, though he feels not.
"If necessary I can play singles and doubles," he said, "but I think Ferrero
and Moya are still favourites to play the singles if they're playing well."
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