Federer beats Nadal for fourth straight time
Roger Federer has extended his winning streak over Rafael Nadal this year to four matches after beating the top-ranked Spaniard 6-4 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters.
The Swiss 19-time grand slam winner, who still trails Nadal 23-15 in their overall head-to-head record, didn’t face a break point and started and ended the match with service breaks.
‘‘I had no nerves before the match, surprisingly,’’ Federer said. ‘‘I was pretty clear about how I wanted to play the match. I started off very well and relaxed from then on.’’
Despite his dominance in 2017, Federer doesn’t rate his chances of catching Nadal in their head-tohead record.
‘‘It’s not going to happen. We don’t have enough years left on the tour. We ranked too good so we play each other only in finals at the moment. You can’t win them all against Rafa, to be honest. He’s too good a player,’’ Federer said.
Federer took advantage of three of seven break point opportunities in the match to snap Nadal’s 16-game winning streak, which included his China Open victory last week.
Federer, who has won the last five encounters between the pair dating back to the 2015 Basel final, also beat Nadal in the Australian Open final in Melbourne, a round of 16 match at Indian Wells and the Miami final this year.
‘‘Have been a very difficult match for me (sic),’’ Nadal said. ‘‘He played very fast and he played well.
‘‘Of course was not the best match for me of the week. When somebody plays better than you, sport is not very difficult. That’s the real thing, no?’’
The Shanghai Masters is Federer’s 94th career title, moving him into a tie with Ivan Lendl in second place on the Open era list.
Nadal arrived on court with a bandage under his right knee, the same leg he twice smacked with his racket after losing his serve for the first time this week in the semifinal.
In his post-match press conference, Nadal elected not to discuss the knee injury, saying, ‘‘I don’t want to talk about that now, sorry, but after losing final is not the moment.’’