Fernando Gonzalez must be kicking himself. Up 6-5 in the first set, Gonzo had two break points to get out to an early lead. However, as we’ve seen time and time again, Nadal staved off his attacks and forced a tiebreak.
Nadal Wins Sloppy First Set Tiebreak
Despite very clean and precise tennis through 12 games, the tiebreak featured very sloppy tennis and a multitude of unforced errors. Nadal got out to a quick 3-0 lead, which was followed immediately by a Gonzalez racket slam that ricocheted off the ground and bopped the Chilean in the head.
Fueled by missed Nadal groundstrokes, Gonzalez rallied back to a one point deficit at 4-5. However, his late comeback was not enough as Rafa took the first set 7-6.
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