NADAL FIGHTBACK ROCKS RODDICK
Rafael Nadal shrugged off early rustiness to record his first victory at London's O2 Arena on Monday night and bring the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals bursting into life.
The world number one had not played for five weeks and it showed early on in his Group A encounter with Andy Roddick, but Nadal recovered impressively to record a 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 victory.
After three one-sided matches, it was just what the tournament needed, and the Spaniard was happy to oblige.
"Finally I won a match," he said. "I started the match a little bit nervously. His serve is always so difficult but I started to play a bit better and this is a very important victory for me."
The London tournament was not a happy experience for Nadal last year as, after a season dogged by injury, he failed to win a set in his three round-robin matches and left the O2 looking short on confidence and belief.
This season, of course, has seen the Spaniard hit the greatest heights of his career, with three grand slam triumphs, including a first title at the US Open.
The Tour Finals is the only major title so far to elude Nadal, and he admitted on Friday that winning it would be harder for him than winning a slam because of the indoor surface it is played on, which does not suit his game.
The court is playing slower this year, giving the world number one more of a chance, but it was his serve that let him down early on as two double faults handed Roddick an immediate break.
The American is famed for his serve, and he needed all of its power as he survived four break points to hold on to his advantage and take the first set.
Nadal was certainly playing better than last year and looked eager and aggressive, but he found himself facing more break points at 1-1 in the second set when Roddick came up with a superb sequence of shots to out-rally the master.
The American sensed his chance and he took it as Nadal chose a surprising moment to come to the net. But Roddick let his opponent off the hook straight away with a poor game, allowing Nadal to level.
And that was the way it stayed all the way through to the first tie-break of this year's singles tournament.
Four points in a row for the world number one from 3-2 down proved the key and he duly levelled when Roddick netted a forehand on the third set point.
The errors of the first set were gone from the Nadal racquet and he ramped up the pressure at 2-2 in the decider, setting up two break points and then taking the first with a super pass.
Roddick had won their last encounter on his way to the Masters title in Miami in the spring but this was Nadal's night and he made no mistake, serving out for victory.
Earlier in the day Novak Djokovic turned the tables on Tomas Berdych with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 victory in the opening Group A match at the O2 Arena.
The last time this pair met in the capital was in the Wimbledon semi-finals this summer, when Berdych eased to a straight-sets triumph before losing to Rafael Nadal in his first grand slam final.
That was the only time in four previous meetings that the Czech has got the better of Djokovic, though, and his form since Wimbledon has been indifferent.
What Berdych needed was a good start but instead he made the worst possible one by conceding a break in the first game.
Djokovic had four more chances in an epic third game but this time his opponent, who is the only debutant among the eight finalists, just about held on.
Berdych was not helping himself with a woeful display of serving and it was not until he had cut out the double faults and found some first serves that he began to at least find a foothold in the match.
The odd bright spot aside, it was not the sort of tennis the decent-sized crowd had come to see and the biggest cheer was for Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona, back at the O2 for a second successive day.
Another error-strewn game from Berdych handed Djokovic two set points, and he duly converted on the first.
In contrast to his opponent, the Serb, who has enjoyed an impressive autumn, appeared to be in good touch, particularly on his forays to the net.
Djokovic, the 2008 champion, made it four games in a row by breaking again in Berdych's first service game of the second set and, although the 25-year-old did eventually stop the rot, it was far too late to change the outcome.
Like Andy Murray, Djokovic missed out on the semi-finals last year despite two round-robin victories, so a dominant win was just what he was hoping for.
The third seed said: "I'm really happy that I had a straight-sets win in such a tough tournament where every match is important, every set you win is important.
"You have to be really on the top of your game in order to win against these players because they are the best players in the world."
The Serb, meanwhile, is hoping his famous fan can help propel him all the way to the final after revealing he and Maradona have been in touch for a number of years, although he had never met the World Cup winner until today.
He said: "Just to have him as a support is an incredible honour and pleasure. It's a big pleasure to meet him. He's going to stay throughout the whole tournament. Hopefully he can be my lucky charm."
For Berdych, there were different emotions, and he admitted the occasion had affected him. Asked if he had felt debut nerves, Berdych said: "If I said no, then I would be lying. In the beginning it affected my game a little bit.
"But the match could have been completely different. In the second game I had a pretty good chance maybe to get a break back. But it did not happen.
"It's something new for me. All those guys have played this kind of tournament at least once, so they already know how it is, and they know how to deal with that. But that's the experience you have to learn if you want to be a really top player."
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