Monte-Carlo Final Preview

© Getty ImagesRafael Nadal is bidding for a seventh consecutive title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

Spain’s Top 2 players will square off in the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday, following strong finishes against inspired opponents in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, the top seed and six-time reigning champion in Monte-Carlo, lost the middle set to rejuvenated No. 3 seed Andy Murray on Saturday but ended up winning easily in the third, 64 26 61, running his career record at the event to an amazing 38-1 - his only loss coming in his first attempt here (a third round loss in 2004 to Guillermo Coria). Nadal is the only player in ATP World Tour history to win a title six years in a row - and now he is just one match away from improving that record to seven consecutive titles.

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World No. 6 David Ferrer, the No. 4 seed here, will be Nadal’s opponent in the final and has been on fire throughout the week, losing just 17 games in eight sets en route to the final (in the semi-finals he beat No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer 63 62). Ferrer has reached his second career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final, his first being Rome last spring (where he was runner-up to Nadal). He does have more experience in big finals though - he was also a finalist at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai in 2007 (losing to Roger Federer).

Nadal holds a commanding 11-4 lead over Ferrer in their head-to-head series, and has won their last eight matches on clay (overall on clay, Nadal is 8-1 in matches and 18-4 in sets). In their only previous meeting in 2011, Ferrer defeated Nadal in the Australian Open quarter-finals, 64 62 63, although Nadal injured his left adductor in the second game and was not the same throughout the match. “I think he played at a very high level. I just congratulate him and wish him all the best for the semi-final,” a gracious Nadal said. “I don’t have to talk about what I felt on the court because I tried my best, but it’s obvious I didn’t feel at my best.”

Nadal has a stellar record in ATP World Tour finals (43-15), ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals (18-8) and all-Spanish ATP World Tour finals (8-0). He is also going for his 30th clay court title on the ATP World Tour, which would tie him for third place in the Open Era (with Borg and Orantes).

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner:  € 438,000 and 1000 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up: € 205,000 and 600 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Nadal:  Appearing in his 59th ATP World Tour level final………..……..He is 43-15 in finals  
           Appearing in his 27th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final…....He is 18-8 in finals
Ferrer:  Appearing in his 22nd ATP World Tour final………..…………….He is 11-10 in finals   
           Appearing in his 2nd ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final……..He is 0-1 in finals

All-Spanish ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Finals – This is the seventh all-Spanish final in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament (since 1990), the third going back to Monte-Carlo last year (all involving Nadal):

2011 Monte-Carlo Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer
2010 Rome  Rafael Nadal d. David Ferrer
2010 Monte-Carlo Rafael Nadal d. Fernando Verdasco
2002 Monte-Carlo Juan Carlos Ferrero d. Carlos Moya
2001 Hamburg  Alberto Portas d. Juan Carlos Ferrero
1998 Hamburg   Albert Costa d. Alex Corretja
1996 Hamburg  Roberto Carretero d. Alex Corretja
  
Mr. April on Clay – Nadal looks for his 62nd straight match win on clay in the month of April. During his clay court streak in April he has won 10 titles -- six in Monte-Carlo and four in Barcelona. His last loss on clay in April came on Apr. 8, 2005 to Igor Andreev in the quarter-finals of Valencia.

Open Era Clay Court Title Leaders – At age 24, Nadal is already among the all-time clay court title leaders and he’s already more than halfway to the most clay titles in the Open Era
                                              No.
1) Guillermo Vilas                     45
2) Thomas Muster                     40
3) Bjorn Borg, Manuel Orantes   30
5) Rafael Nadal                         29
6) Ivan Lendl, Ilie Nastase         28
8) Jose-Luis Clerc                     21
9) Mats Wilander                      20
10)Andres Gomez, Carlos Moya 16

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FED-EX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS –

(1)Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs (4) David Ferrer (ESP)  Nadal Leads 11-4
04 Stuttgart (Germany) Clay QF David Ferrer 6-3 6-7(3) 7-5
05 ATP Masters Series Miami (U.S.A.) Hard SF Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-3
05 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 4-6 6-4 7-5
05 Roland Garros (France) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-2 6-0
07 Barcelona (Spain) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-1
07 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R16 David Ferrer 6-7(3) 6-4 7-6(4)  6-2
07 Tennis Masters Cup (China) Hard RR David Ferrer 4-6 6-4 6-3
08 ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo  Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-1 7-5
08 Barcelona (Spain) Clay F Rafael Nadal 6-1 4-6 6-1
09 Barcelona (Spain) Clay F Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-5
09 ATP Masters 1000 Montreal Hard R32 Rafael Nadal 4-3 ret
10 ATP Masters 1000 Miami (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Rafael Nadal 7-6(5) 6-4
10 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo  Clay SF Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-3
10 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome Clay F Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-2
11 Australian Open (Australia) Hard QF David Ferrer 6-4 6-2 6-3

                                    Rafael Nadal David Ferrer
 Sets Won:                            25               12
 Tiebreak Sets Won:               3                 1

 Match Wins By Surface:
 Clay:                                   8                 1
 Hard:                                  3                 3

Tournament Highlights:
• The 24-year-old reigning six-time champion has a 38-1 career record with 36 consecutive match wins after opening with a 62 62 victory over Jarkko Nieminen and following with a 62 64 win over No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet, 61 63 triumph over Ivan Ljubicic, and 64 26 61 victory over No. 3 seed Andy Murray…Has only lost six sets (74-6) during streak (in 2005-06 SF & F, ’09 F, ’11 SF)…Last year he beat Verdasco 60 61 in final…He only lost 14 games in his five matches en route to title
• He leads the tournament in points won returning 1st serve (48%) and is No. 3 this week in return games won (20 of 37, 54%)…Has held serve 30 of 38 games (79%)…Broken six times on Saturday
• His lone loss came in the third round to Guillermo Coria in 2003 (did not play in 2004 due to injury)
• In 2008, became the first player to win four straight titles since New Zealand’s Anthony Wilding from 1911-14…His six titles ties Reggie Doherty of England for most in tourn. history (1897-99, 1902-04)
• Since the loss to Coria in ’03, has captured titles over Coria in 2005, World No. 1 Federer from 2006-08, Djokovic in ‘09 and Verdasco last year …Has a 13-0 mark against Top 10 opponents
• In 2008, captured the doubles title (w/Robredo) over Bhupathi-Knowles and became the first player to win both titles in the same year since Ilie Nastase in 1973 (d. Borg, won doubles w/Gisbert)

2011 Highlights:
F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Djokovic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Djokovic); SF: Doha (l Davydenko); QF: Australian Open (l Ferrer)

2011 in Review:
• The World No. 1 has a 23-4 match record on the season and he’s appearing in his third straight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final…He was runner-up in Indian Wells and Miami, losing to Djokovic in three sets in both
• This is the third time in four years (except ’09) he entered Monte-Carlo without a title and previous two times he won the title… His last title came in Tokyo on Oct. 10, 2010…He is appearing in his  27th ATP Masters 1000 final (18-8) and 32nd on clay (29-2)…His only final losses on clay came to Federer in ’07 Hamburg and ’09 Madrid
• With four wins this week, has improved his clay court winning streak to 28 since his last loss to Robin Soderling in 4th Rd. at ’09 Roland Garros…Has 207-16 career mark (.928) on clay (best in Open Era)
• He opened year with a semi-final in Doha (l. to Davydneko) and followed with a quarter-final at the
Australian Open where he injured his left adductor early in match against Ferrer (lost 64 62 63)
• Last month he led Spain to a 4-1 first round Davis Cup victory in Belgium by winning both of his singles matches (d. Ruben Bemelmans in second rubber, O. Rochus in dead rubber)…In July, Spain will travel to Austin, Texas to face the U.S.in the quarter-finals
• Has ranked No. 1 for past 45 weeks (since June 7, 2010 after Roland Garros title) and 91 overall since first taking over the top spot on Aug. 18, 2008

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History
• The all-time leader with 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (since 1990) is 18-8 in ATP Masters 1000 finals…He has 200 career match wins (200-40), third behind Federer (234) and Agassi (209)
• He’s won at least two titles in each of the past six years (2005-10)…Won a personal-best four in 2005 and three each from 2007-10…He captured his 18th career title at age 23 and Agassi won his 17th title at age 34 in 2004…Has reached the final in eight of the current nine Masters 1000 finals (except Cincinnati)…He also won the former ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Hamburg in 2008

FERRER FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 29-year-old Spaniard has yet to drop a set en route to his first final (21-7 career mark)…Has posted wins over countryman  Feliciano Lopez 62 60, Canadian Milos Raonic 61 63, No. 11 seed Viktor Troicki 63 63 and No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer 63 62…Leads tourney in return games won (20 of 32, 63%), converting 20 of 33 break points (61%)…Has held serve 28 of 33 games (85%), saving 10 of 15 break points (67%)…Also No. 3 in first serve points won (76%)
• Last year he reached the semi-finals for the first time (l. to Nadal)…He also advanced to the quarter-finals from 2005-08
• His past six losses have come to Top 10 opponents – No. 9 Guillermo Coria in 2005, No. 1 Federer in 2006-07, No. 2 Nadal in 2008, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco in 3rd Rd. in 2009 and No. 3 Nadal last year
• A Spaniard has reached the final for the past seven years and nine of the past 10 years (except ’04)

2011 Highlights:
W: Auckland (d Nalbandian); Acapulco (d Almagro); SF: Australian Open (l Murray); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Fish)

2011 in Review:
• The No. 2 Spaniard (behind No. 1 Nadal) enters his third ATP World Tour final with a 21-4 match record (9-0 on clay, 12-4 on hard) on the season
• He won ATP World Tour titles in Auckland (d. Nalbandian) in January and Acapulco (d. Almagro) in February…Also a semi-finalist at the Australian Open (d. Nadal in QF, l. to Murray)
• He is 2-1 vs. Top 10 opponents this season and he’s 30-55 lifetime
• Has an 11-10 career mark in ATP World Tour finals (6-7 on clay)
• In first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, lost in opening round to Ivo Karlovic and followed with quarter-final in Miami (l. to Fish)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
• Has a 101-69 career mark and his best result is a runner-up in Rome last year (l. to Nadal)…Also semi-finalist in Miami in 2005-06, Rome in 2005, along with Monte-Carlo in 2010-11 and Madrid last year
• He is one of 11 active players to win at least 100 matches in his career

ATP WORLD TOUR MASTERS 1000 TITLE LEADERS -- Nadal is attempting to capture his 19th career
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title while Ferrer his first. Here are the leaders (since 1990):

                         No. 
Rafael Nadal       18 
Andre Agassi      17     
Roger Federer     17 
Pete Sampras      11  
Thomas Muster   8
Michael Chang     7
Novak Djokovic   7
Andy Murray       6

DOUBLES PREVIEW – BRYANS LOOK FOR THIRD TITLE IN ’11 VS.  FIRST-TIME DUO CHELA-SOARES

• Top seeds and 2007 Monte-Carlo champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan take on the unseeded first-time duo of Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and Bruno Soares of Brazil in Sunday’s doubles final.
• The Bryans are attempting to capture their third  title of the season, the second in as many weeks, after winning a third straight crown at the Australian Open in January, and in Houston last week. They also were finalists in Sydney.
• This is the Bryans' fourth career final in Monte-Carlo and each time it’s come in an odd year. They won the title in 2007 and were finalists in 2005 and ’09. They have a 14-5 career mark in Monte-Carlo.
• The Bryans have a 69-39 career record in doubles finals and last year they finished as the No. 1 team for a record sixth time in the past eight years.
• Chela and Soares, both playing in their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals, have upset two seeds en route, No. 8 Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau (2nd Rd.) and No. 6  Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (SFs).
• Chela is playing his sixth ATP World Tour doubles final (3-2 lifetime) while Soares is playing in his 12th ATP World Tour doubles final (5-6 in his career).
• The last South American team to win here were Hans Gildemeister (CHI) and Andres Gomez (ECU) in 1987; the last South American finalists here were Argentines Gaston Etlis and Martin Rodriguez in ’04.

ATP WORLD TOUR MASTERS 1000 DOUBLES TITLE LEADERS (since 1990) --
   
                            No.
Daniel Nestor         24
Todd Woodbrdige  18
Bob-Mike Bryan      17
Mark Knowles        17