MADRID, Oct 21: Holder Roger Federer will meet unseeded Argentine David Nalbandian in the Madrid Masters final after the pair recorded victories on Saturday.Nalbandian defeated world No 3 Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 to reach his first final of the year while world No 1 Federer progressed to his 10th final of the season with a 6-4, 6-4 win over unseeded German Nicolas Kiefer.
The 26-year-old Swiss, who will get a crack at his 15th Masters Series crown on Sunday, cashed in on an early break in the third game to glide through the first set.
Although Kiefer, who returned in June after more than a year out through injury, put up stiff resistance in the second, his opponent broke in the ninth game as he extended his winning run to 18 matches.
“I’m serving well, the court’s really fast and I haven’t been broken so far this tournament so it’s been really good,” Federer told reporters.
Federer has beaten Nalbandian in eight of their last nine meetings, including a 6-4, 6-0 win in the semi-final here last year, but the Argentine was the last man to defeat the Swiss indoors when he won the Masters Cup in Shanghai in Nov 2005.Nalbandian, a former world No 3, has slumped to 25th in the rankings this season.
“This is a very important win for me as I haven’t had a good year,” he said. “I had some physical problems this year but I’ve been working hard, regained confidence and today I got the reward.”
Nalbandian crushed home favourite Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals on Friday and he picked up where he had finished off against a jaded Djokovic.
The Argentine put the 20-year-old Serb under heavy pressure as he returned deep and hit the lines with his groundstrokes.
Nalbandian failed to convert two break-point opportunities in the opening game but broke serve in the third.
He kept Djokovic on the rack in the second set, working his opponent across the court with his heavy whipped forehands before taking the tiebreak 7-4.
It was the first time Nalbandian had reached a final since April 2006, his previous best performance this season coming when he advanced to the Barcelona Open quarter-finals in April.
He has reached the final of three previous Masters Series events, including Madrid in 2004 when he lost to Marat Safin.
“He deserves to be in the final that’s for sure,” said Djokovic, who added that he was exhausted after winning his fifth tournament of the year in Vienna last weekend.
“He won against Rafa (Nadal) and a lot of good players this week so obviously he had a lot of confidence on the court and you could see that.”Saturday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):Semi-finals: 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-4, 6-4; David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
The Belgian next faces 19-year-old Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin, who ousted Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-0, 6-4.Chasing her ninth title of the season, and fourth in a row, Henin’s run of 18 consecutive victories was in danger of ending against Vaidisova.The unseeded Czech, who lost all three of her previous meetings with Henin, was under plenty of pressure at the start but the 18-year-old world No 15 stunned Henin by breaking serve to take a 5-3 lead.
If the teenager was nervous she did not show it, serving out to love as Henin dropped her first set of the week.
The Belgian rallied to take the second set after finally breaking in the eighth game.The two players failed to hold serve in the third set until Henin held for a 4-2 advantage.
She then spurned two match points at 5-3 before going on to lose her own serve. Henin, though, broke again to complete victory after two hours 18 minutes.
The unseeded Golovin had no such difficulty in the day’s second semi-final, whipping through the opening set in 23 minutes with three breaks of Schiavone’s serve.
The Italian recovered in the second set to hold her first four service games but then threw away the fifth by slamming a simple-looking overhead into the net.Serving to win the match, Golovin faltered for the first time, offering Schiavone three chances to break back.
The French world No 18 saved all three with two cross court winners and a smash.Golovin has lost all three of her previous meetings with Henin, including the Stuttgart final two weeks ago.Saturday’s results:
Semi-finals: Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-0, 6-4; 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.—Reuters