Rome Saturday Preview

For the second straight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, the Spanish trio of World No. 3 and four-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal, No. 6 seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 13 David Ferrer are in the semi-finals. They are joined by unseeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who is making his first appearance in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final.

Nadal and Ferrer have yet to drop a set this week (Nadal has not lost his serve). This is the first time in Rome in the Open Era (since 1968) that three Spaniards are in the semi-finals. It is also the third time (since 1990) a Spanish trio are in the semis of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. It happened two weeks ago in Monte-Carlo and in Hamburg in 2001.

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In the first semi-final, Verdasco brings a 6-3 career advantage over Ferrer, winning the past three meetings. Both players are making their third straight semi-final or better showing in as many weeks.

In the second semi-final, Nadal won the previous two meetings against Gulbis but this is their first encounter on clay. Gulbis is trying to become only the fifth player to defeat Federer and Nadal in the same tournament (first on clay). Nadal, who owns a 25-1 lifetime mark in Rome, is attempting to capture his 17th career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and tie all-time leader Andre Agassi.

The other semi-finalists are trying to earn their first career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.

SPANIARDS DOMINATE – With Ferrer-Verdasco meeting in the semi-finals, a Spaniard is guaranteed in the Rome final for the eighth time in the past 10 years (except 2008, '02). During that stretch, Nadal won four titles (2005-07, '09), Carlos Moya (2004), Felix Mantilla (2003) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (2001).

2010 ATP WORLD TOUR MATCH WINS LEADERS – The Spanish trio of Ferrer, Verdasco and Nadal are among the top four match wins leaders on the ATP World Tour this year (incl. W-L and titles won):

1) David Ferrer 28-8 W-L / 1 title
2) Andy Roddick 26-4 / 2
3) Fernando Verdasco 26-6 / 2
4) Rafael Nadal 24-4 / 1
 
SATURDAY SEMI-FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

(13) David Ferrer (ESP) vs (6) Fernando Verdasco (ESP) Verdasco Leads 6-3
04 Chennai (India) Hard R32 David Ferrer 1-6 7-5 6-0
04 Valencia (Spain) Clay QF Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-3
05 Barcelona (Spain) Clay R64 David Ferrer 6-3 6-4
07 Roland Garros (France) Clay R32 Fernando Verdasco 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3 6-3
07 Stuttgart (Germany) Clay R16 Fernando Verdasco 7-5 6-3
08 Valencia (Spain) Clay QF David Ferrer 6-3 1-6 7-5
08 ATP Masters Series Hamburg Clay R16 Fernando Verdasco 7-6(4) 6-2
09 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo Clay R16 Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-1
10 Barcelona (Spain) Clay SF Fernando Verdasco 6-7(3) 7-5 6-1

Ferrer: vs Verdasco
Sets Won: 8
Tiebreak Sets Won: 1
Wins By Surface:
Clay: 2
Hard: 1

Verdasco: vs Ferrer
Sets Won: 15
Tiebreak Sets Won: 2
Wins By Surface:
Clay: 6
Hard: 0

Ferrer
Age (Birthdate): 28 (April 2, 1982)  
Residence: Valencia, Spain
ATP Ranking (Career-High): No. 17 (No. 4 – Feb. 25, 2008)
2010 W-L Record (on Clay): 28-8 (22-3)
2010 Finals W-L: 1-1
Career Finals W-L: 8-8 (5-6)
Last ATP Final/Last ATP Title: ’10 Acapulco/’10 Acapulco
2010 Tie-Break W-L: 6-3
Rome W-L (Best Result): 11-7 (SF – 2005, ’10)
Coach: Javier Piles

Verdasco
Age (Birthdate): 26 (November 15, 1983)
Residence: Madrid, Spain
ATP Ranking (Career-High): No. 9 (No. 7 – April 20, 2009)
2010 W-L Record (on Clay): 26-6 (14-2)
2010 Finals W-L: 2-1
Career Finals W-L: 5-7 (3-3)
Last ATP Final/Last ATP Title: ’10 Barcelona/’10 Barcelona
2010 Tie-Break W-L: 9-6
Rome W-L (Best Result): 11-5 (SF – 2010)
Coach: Father, Jose

FERRER FASTFACTS
Tournament Highlights:
* The 28-year-old Spaniard is appearing in the semi-finals for the first time since 2005 when he lost to Nadal 7-5 in the third set…This week he broke a four-match opening round losing streak in Rome with a 64 61 victory over Evgeny Korolev on Tuesday night and followed with a 75 62 win over wild card Potito Starace, No. 4 seed Andy Murray 63 64 triumph on Thursday and 76(4) 36 64 verdict over World No. 2 and ’08 champion Novak Djokovic (in 3:18, longest match of week)...Has an 11-7 career mark
* He leads the tournament this week in second serve pts. won (67%), 1st serve pct. (80%), No. 3 in return games won (43%, 15 of 35) and No. 5 in service games won (89%, 34 of 38)
* In 2005, he reached the semi-finals with wins over No. 18 Thomas Johansson, No. 5 Gaston Gaudio and countryman Alberto Martin before losing to then-No. 7 Nadal 7-5 in third set
* He made his debut in 2003 and defeated No. 1 Andre Agassi in the first round before losing in the next round to Ivan Ljubicic...The following year, posted win over No. 10 Sebastien Grosjean in second round and lost to No. 17 Jiri Novak in third round

2010 Highlights:
W: Acapulco (d Ferrero); F: Buenos Aires (l Ferrero); SF: Johannesburg (l Robert); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); Barcelona (l Verdasco)

2010 in Review:
* The Valencia resident is the match wins leader on the ATP World Tour with a 28-8 record this season and he has the most clay court wins (22-3)…This is his third straight semi-final in as many weeks -- at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal) and Barcelona last week (l. to Verdasco)
* He’s trying to reach his third ATP World Tour final of the year and his first career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final…His best results came in back-to-back weeks in February during Latin American clay court swing, reaching final in Buenos Aires (l. to Ferrero) and winning his eighth ATP World Tour title in Acapulco (d. Ferrero)…He is 8-8 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals
* Also reached SF in Johannesburg (l. to Robert); fell early at three other events of year, reaching 2nd Rd. at Australian Open (l. to Baghdatis in five sets) and dropping opening matches at Auckland (after bye, l. to Clement in 2nd Rd.) and Indian Wells (after bye, l. to Blake in 2nd Rd.)
* He recorded his 300th ATP World Tour-level match win in Buenos Aires QF (vs. Andreev)
* In first round Davis Cup tie vs. Switzerland (d. Chiudinelli and Wawrinka)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
* Has an 84-61 career match record and this is the Spaniard’s fifth semi-final…His previous SF finishes – 2010 Monte-Carlo, 2005-06 Miami and ’05 Rome

Miscellaneous:
* In 2009, finished Top 20 for fifth straight year at No. 17, reaching SF or better five times during season, including reaching finals at Dubai and Barcelona, falling to Djokovic and Nadal, respectively
* He reached a career-high No. 4 on February 25, 2008 and spent 65 non-consecutive weeks in Top 10 (between January 30, 2006 and November 2, 2008), peaking at No. 4 for eight weeks…Finished a year-end best No. 5 in 2007 and compiled a career-best 61-23 match record, culminating with runner-up at Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai (l. to Federer)…Also reached a Grand Slam-best SF at US Open that year (d. No. 2 Nadal in 4th Rd., l. to Djokovic)
* Has a 23-43 career mark vs. Top 10 opponents and looking to defeat a third straight Top 10 opponent for the second time in his career…In 2007 at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai he beat four straight Top 10s en route to the final…He broke a nine-match losing streak (vs. Top 10) with his win over No. 5-ranked Murray on Thursday and followed with a victory over No. 10 Tsonga on Friday

2010 CLAY COURT WINS LEADERS – Ferrer and Verdasco are among the ATP World Tour Top 5 match wins leaders on clay this season:

1) David Ferrer 22-3 W-L
2) Juan Carlos Ferrero 18-4
3) Fernando Verdasco 14-2
4) Thomaz Bellucci 13-5
5) Juan Monaco 12-6

VERDASCO FASTFACTS
Tournament Highlights:
* The 26-year-old Spaniard has an 11-5 career mark and he’s appearing in the semi-finals for the first time…His previous best showing was the quarter-finals in 2005 and last year …Last season he lost to Nadal in the quarters
* This week has dropped one set en route to the semi-finals, posting a 76(11) 63 win over Italian wild card Simone Bolelli, 64 76(2) victory over countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and 76(4) 36 64 triumph over World No. 2 Novak Djokovic in three hours, 18 minutes (longest match of tournament)
* In his debut in 2005, he advanced to the quarters with a win over No. 3 ranked Andy Roddick before losing to No. 11-ranked Argentine Guillermo Coria in three sets
* In 2008, he defeated fellow countryman and former World No. 1 Carlos Moya in the opening round, followed up with win over Nicolas Lapentti before third round loss to No. 8 James Blake in three sets

2010 Highlights:
W: San Jose (d Roddick); Barcelona (d Soderling); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); QF: Acapulco (l Monaco); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Berdych)

2010 in Review:
* The Madrid native enters his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final or better with a 26-6 match record on the season (14-2 on clay, 12-4 on hard)…He is 3-0 in semi-final matches this year
* He’s coming off his fifth career ATP World Tour title last Sunday in Barcelona (d. Soderling)…The previous week he reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo (d. No. 2 Djokovic in SF, l. to Nadal)… He is 5-7 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals (3-3 on clay)
* Last month in the first two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, he lost in the third round in Indian Wells to Berdych 60 63 and in the quarter-finals in Miami (d. No. 9 Cilic, l. to Berdych in three)
* On Feb. 14, he captured his fourth career ATP World Tour title, the first indoors, in San Jose (d. No. 7 Roddick)
* He opened the season with a 4th Rd. showing at the Australian Open (l. to Davydenko in five sets)
* In February, after his title in San Jose, lost in the 1st Rd. in Memphis (l. to Chardy) and then took a wild LEADERS ?20he reached the quarter-finals (l. to Monaco)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
* He has a 63-56 career record and the Spaniard reached his first final in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal) two weeks ago…Prior to then he was 0-9 in QF matches with five coming last year -- Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Rome and Madrid

Miscellaneous:
* In 2009, he finished a year-end best No. 9, his first Top 10 season-ending ranking…He won his third ATP World Tour title in New Haven and was runner-up in Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur
* He qualified for his year-end championship at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London (0-3)
* He helped his native Spain to a second straight Davis Cup title by clinching tie with doubles win (w/Lopez) over Czech Republic

Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs (3) Rafael Nadal (ESP) Nadal Leads 2-0
08 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R64 Rafael Nadal 5-7 6-2 7-6(2) 6-3
08 ATP Masters Series Madrid (Spain) Hard R32 Rafael Nadal 7-5 3-6 6-3

Gulbis
Age (Birthdate): 21 (August 30, 1988)
Residence: Jurmala, Latvia
ATP Ranking (Career-High): No. 40 (No. 38 – August 4, 2008)
2010 W-L Record (on Clay): 19-7 (8-2)
2010 Finals W-L: 1-0
Career Finals W-L (on Clay): 1-0 (0-0)
Last ATP Final/Last ATP Title: ’10 Delray Beach/’10 Delray Beach
2010 Tie-Break W-L: 6-2
Rome W-L (Best Result): 5-1 (SF – 2010)
Coach: Hernan Gumy

Nadal
Age (Birthdate): 23 (June 3, 1986)
Residence: Mallorca, Spain
ATP Ranking (Career-High): No. 3 (No. 1 – August 18, 2008)
2010 W-L Record (on Clay): 24-4 (8-0)
2010 Finals W-L: 1-1
Career Finals W-L (on Clay): 37-12 (26-2)
Last ATP Final/Last ATP Title: ’10 Monte-Carlo/’10 Monte-Carlo
2010 Tie-Break W-L: 3-4
Rome W-L (Best Result): 25-1 (Winner – 2005-07, ’09)
Coach: Uncle Toni Nadal

GULBIS FASTFACTS
Tournament Highlights:
* The 21-year-old Latvian is appearing in his first semi-final…This week he defeated Marcos Baghdatis 62 62 in the first round on Monday and followed with the biggest win of his career on Tuesday over No. 1 Federer 26 61 75 (clinching on his seventh match point)…On Thursday he beat wild card Filippo Volandri 62 36 76(4), converting three of 17 break points…He then ousted Feliciano Lopez 76(6) 61
* Last year he made his debut and reached the second round (d. Almagro, l. to Gasquet, both in three sets)

2010 Highlights:
W: Delray Beach (d Karlovic); SF: Memphis (l Querrey); QF: Doha (l Federer); Barcelona (l Verdasco)

2010 in Review:
* The young Latvian enters his third ATP World Tour semi-final (or better) with a 19-7 match record (8-2 on clay) and last week he reached the quarters in Barcelona where he lost to eventual champ Verdasco
* Won a total of 20 matches (20-26) last season and trying to reach that mark on May 1
* He is ranked No. 40 this week, just two spots off his career-high ranking of No. 38 on August 4, 2008, and by reaching the semi-finals he will achieve a personal-best ranking next week (around No. 34)
* In February, he did not drop a set en route to his first ATP World Tour title in Delray Beach (d. Karlovic)…He and American John Isner are the lone first-time winners on the ATP World Tour this year
* He began the campaign with QF in Doha (l. to Federer), then back-to-back 1st Rd. exits at Australian Open (l. to Monaco) and San Jose (l. to Mayer)…In February he reached the SF in Memphis (l. to eventual champ Querrey)…It was his second ATP World Tour SF of career, the first coming in his debut ATP World Tour event at St. Petersburg in October 2006 - Memphis was 65th event since then)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
* Has a career record of 14-14 and this is his first semi-final…His previous best was the quarters in Cincinnati in August 2008 (d. No. 8 Blake, l. to No. 3 Djokovic)

Miscellaneous:
* Last year finished in Top 100 for third straight year at No. 90 with a 20-26 match record…His best results were quarter-finals in Tokyo and St. Petersburg, the only tournaments he won back-to-back
matches
* In 2008, finished a year-end best No. 53 with a 24-22 mark with his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros and first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final in Cincinnati, defeating No. 8 Blake in both
* Has a 5-19 career mark (2-2 on clay) vs. Top 10 opponents and broke a 10-match losing streak with his win over Federer (since defeating No. 3 Djokovic in the first round of Brisbane in January 2009)…Trying to become fifth player to beat Federer and Nadal in the same tournament – Nikolay Davydenko (twice), David Nalbandian (twice), Juan Martin del Potro (once) and Novak Djokovic (once)
* Coached by former ATP pro Hernan Gumy (since mid-September ’09) and credits the Argentine with
his improvement and focus this season

NADAL FASTFACTS
Tournament Highlights:
* The four-time champion (2005-07, ‘09) has a 25-1 career mark and he opened on Wednesday with a 61 63 win over top German Philipp Kohlschreiber and followed with a 63 62 victory over Romanian Victor Hanescu…He saved all five break points he faced in the 1:22 match…On Friday, he ousted Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka 64 61…For the week has held serve all 26 games (saving eight break points)
* Last year he defeated No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the final to improve to 7-0 against Top 10 opponents… He became the first player to win four titles in tournament history (since 1930)…Thomas Muster (1990, ’95-96), Martin Mulligan (1963, ’65, ’67) and Jaroslav Drobny (1950-52) are the only other players to win three titles
* His only loss here came in the opening round (after a bye) two years ago to Juan Carlos Ferrero 75 61
* In 2007, he defeated Fernando Gonzalez 62 62 in the title match and in 2006, prevailed in a fifth set tie-break over No. 1 Federer (saved two match points in 5:05 marathon)…In 2005, defeated Argentine Guillermo Coria in a fifth set tie-break (in five hours, 14 minutes) for his first title

2010 Highlights:
W: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (d Verdasco); F: Doha (l Davydenko); SF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Ljubicic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Roddick); QF: Australian Open (l Murray)

2010 in Review:
* The World No. 3 has a 24-4 match record (8-0 on clay, 16-4 on hard courts) and he’s appearing in the semi-finals (or better) for the fifth time in six tournaments this season…In his eight clay court matches, has lost 28 games (14 in Monte-Carlo, 14 in Rome) and held serve 59 of 62 games (33 of 36 in M.C.)
* In his last tournament (on Apr. 18) he captured an Open Era record sixth straight title at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo where he dropped 14 games in five matches…He beat countryman Verdasco 60 61 in the final…It was his first ATP World Tour title since Rome in May 2009
* It was his 16th career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (16-6) and 37th overall tour level crown (37-12)…He is 26-2 lifetime in clay court finals with both losses to rival Federer (’07 Hamburg, ’09 Madrid)
* In January he opened the campaign with a runner-up in Doha (l. to Davydenko, held two match points) and followed with a quarter-final at the Australian Open where he retired with a right knee injury (vs. Murray) on Jan. 26…Did not return until Indian Wells in March
* Since returning, he reached back-to-back semi-finals at the first two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells (l. to Ljubicic in third set TB) and Miami (l. to Roddick in three sets), falling to eventual champions in both

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
* The Spaniard has a 173-35 career match record and a 16-6 mark in finals, winning at least two titles in each of the past five years (2005-09)…Won a personal-best four in 2005 and three each in 2007-08-09
* He’s trying to capture his 17th career title and tie Andre Agassi, who won his 17th title at age 34 in 2004
* He’s won at least 20 matches in four different ATP Masters 1000 tournaments – Monte-Carlo (34-1), Indian Wells (26-4), Rome (25-1) and Miami (21-7)
* Has reached the final in eight of the current nine Masters 1000 finals (except Cincinnati)…He also won the former Masters 1000 tournament in Hamburg in 2008 and was runner-up in ‘07

Miscellaneous:
* In 2008, he became the first left-hander to finish No. 1 since John McEnroe in 1984, in addition to becoming first Spaniard as year-end No. 1 in history of ATP Rankings (since 1973)…Spent 46 weeks at No. 1 before Federer regained the top ranking on July 6, ’09 (after capturing Wimbledon title)
* Since 2005 has an outstanding 162-6 match record on clay (189-16 overall in his career, .922)
* His 31-match winning streak came to an end last year in Paris as Robin Soderling won 4th Rd. battle

POTENTIAL FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS

David Ferrer (ESP) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT) Ferrer Leads 1-0
07 ATP Masters Series Montreal Hard R64 David Ferrer 6-2 6-1

David Ferrer (ESP) vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) Nadal Leads 10-3
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

Ferrer: vs Nadal
Sets Won: 9
Tiebreak Sets Won: 1
Match Wins By Surface:
Clay: 1
Hard: 2

Nadal: vs Ferrer
Sets Won: 23
Tiebreak Sets Won: 3
Match Wins By Surface:
Clay: 7
Hard: 3
 
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT) Verdasco Leads 1-0
10 Barcelona (Spain) Clay QF Fernando Verdasco 6-2 7-6(4)

Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) Nadal Leads 10-0
05 Doha (Qatar) Hard R16 Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-4
05 ATP Masters Series Miami (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-2
05 Stuttgart (Germany) Clay R16 Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-2
06 London / Queen's Club (England) Grass R16 Rafael Nadal 2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(3)
07 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells Hard R32 Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4
08 Roland Garros (France) Clay R16 Rafael Nadal 6-1 6-0 6-2
09 Australian Open (Australia) Hard SF Rafael Nadal 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(2) 6-7(1) 6-4
09 ATP Masters 1000 Rome (Italy) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-3
09 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (Spain) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-4 7-5
10 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo Clay F Rafael Nadal 6-0 6-1
Other Meeting:
03 Hamburg CH (Germany) Carpet QF Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-5

Verdasco: vs Nadal
Sets Won: 3
Tiebreak Sets Won: 2
Match Wins By Surface:
Clay: 0
Hard: 0

Nadal: vs Verdasco
Sets Won: 22
Tiebreak Sets Won: 3
Match Wins By Surface:
Clay: 5
Hard: 4