The Frenchman was staring down the barrel of a ninth defeat in 10 meetings with Federer, but exhibited superb reflexes at the net to claw his way back into contention in the second set at 4-4. He levelled the match with a dominant display in the second set tie-break, hurting Federer with a range of groundstroke winners, and again held his nerve in the third-set decider to clinch victory in two hours and 19 minutes. It was Federer’s earliest defeat at a tour-level event since falling to Ernests Gulbis in the Rome second round a year earlier.
"I [played] a very good match for sure and as you can imagine I am very happy to beat Roger," said Gasquet, who went on to beat World No. 7 Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals before falling to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. "This does not happen many times, so I have to enjoy it. His forehand is very fast and the court today was very fast and [it was] very difficult conditions, but I tried to play good as I had nothing to lose and this is very important. I cannot play my game [under] a lot of pressure."
Federer was left to rue the advantage he had let slip, lamenting, "I had multiple chances [to win]. That is how it goes. Sometimes it is unfortunate because I was playing well and then it didn’t happen at all any more so it was a disappointing end to the match."
The final was billed as a battle between two big servers, and sticking to the script, the first two sets went to tie-breaks, where both players had their fair share of chances. Roddick clinched the first set with his eighth ace of the match after saving two set points. In the second set, Raonic fought off elimination as he faced down three match points and converted on his fourth set point of the tie-break.
Roddick finally broke open a lead in the third set and held two chances to go up 5-1, but Raonic rallied to hold. The tenacious youngster capitalised on his fifth break point in the ensuing game to get back on serve and saved a fourth match point at 4-5. But his 32-ace effort, taking him to a tournament record 129 for the week, would not be enough to force a third consecutive tie-break.
In arguably the most spectacular championship point of all-time, Raonic angled away a crisp forehand volley that looked good enough to get him back to deuce, but Roddick launched into a full sprint and dived forward to connect with the ball. As he rolled on the ground, his forehand pass fell into the open court, causing the crowd to erupt in celebration.
"He had a great volley there," said Roddick, who claimed his 30th tour-level title. "I don’t really remember much else besides the fact that I went for the ball, I hit it, I didn’t really think much of it. Then I heard people cheering. I was like, 'No, there’s no way that went in.' I guess it did."
Tomas Berdych had lost a heartbreaker in his first round robin match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Holding match point against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at 6-5 in the third set, the Czech mis-timed a forehand, then committed a slew of unforced errors in the tie-break to see victory slip from his grasp.
Two days later, the effects of that loss appeared to haunt Berdych when he stepped back out on court against another Serbian, Janko Tipsarevic, who had entered the line-up as a late replacement for British No. 1 Andy Murray. Berdych dropped two of his first three services games and committed a total of 11 unforced errors in the opening set, including seven on his forehand.
The Czech would not stay down for long. Adopting aggressive tactics, he drew level with a single break of serve in the second set, then denied Tipsarevic an opportunity to pull ahead in the third set as he came to the net to save break point in the fourth game.
Berdych held to love to send the match to a decisive tie-break and gained the first mini-break to go up 5-3, but with the match on his racquet at 5-4, he lost his two service points with forehand errors to bring up match point for Tipsarevic. The Serbian also faltered on his next two points, first directing a backhand volley long, then double-faulting to find himself match point down. Tipsarevic could only watch as Berdych sealed the victory with a forehand winner, as he slipped to the court after returning serve and slipped once again as he attempted to get up.
"One point. That's the best [thing] about tennis, that it’s not over until the last ball [has] bounced twice or is in the net," said Berdych, reflecting on the symmetry of his loss and win. "I think that’s really nice about sports. That's what I like. I was a bit unlucky on Monday. I got luckier here."
Tipsarevic, who looked to have seriously hurt his ankle on match point, made a remarkable recovery to upset his countryman Djokovic two days later.
Djokovic came from a set down and prevailed in a decisive tie-break to turn up the heat on the Spaniard in the battle for the No. 1 South African Airways ATP Ranking and improve to a 24-0 match record in 2011.
Appearing in his third Miami final, Nadal raced to a 5-1 lead, ending Djokovic’s streak of 41 consecutive service holds at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, and although Djokovic cut the deficit, Nadal held on to close out the opener in 57 minutes. The high intensity and level of play carried over into the second set, but it was Djokovic who upped the ante on his groundstrokes, creating a 3-0 advantage after saving a break point in the third game and going on to level the match.
Nadal and Djokovic received a standing ovation from the sell-out 14,625 crowd as an intense third set went to a tie-break, with neither player engineering a break point chance. After five successive mini-breaks, Djokovic took control as he established a 6-2 lead and after being denied on his first two match points, converted his third to win the Sony Ericsson Open for the second time in five years.
"It was one of the closest and best finals that I have played ever," said Djokovic. "I think it was a very high level of tennis today. I think everybody enjoyed it, even us playing. It was very close, and up to the last stroke we really didn't know which way it's going to go."
It was in the semi-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia that Andy Murray came so close to ending Novak Djokovic’s then-37-match winning streak, but was ultimately denied by the Serb, who had simply forgotten how to lose.
Two of the best backhands in the game went head-to-head under the lights at the Foro Italico in an exhilarating semi-final defined by long, gruelling points. After losing serve three times to surrender the first set to an inspired Djokovic, Murray stationed himself behind the baseline, hurting Djokovic with his crisp ball striking and plentiful drop shots. The Scot, who came of age on clay in the 2011 European swing, levelled the match after breaking in the sixth game of the second set, and rallied from a 1-3 deficit in the decider to break for a 5-4 lead after excelling in the pair’s punishing exchanges.
However, when serving for the match, Murray came within two points of victory four times, but could not engineer a match point and the resilient Djokovic converted his third break point as the Scot double faulted. In the subsequent tie-break, Djokovic made Murray rue his missed opportunity as he stepped up a gear and claimed the dramatic victory in just over three hours.
"I’m one of the best closers in tennis and I very rarely, especially against the best players, lose matches when serving," lamented Murray, who would later go on to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals for the first time.
"Andy played a really good match tonight. He was unfortunate not to finish it out," said Djokovic. "It’s an amazing achievement... a great effort from both of us." The Belgrade native went on to stun defending champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the final.
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