14th May, 2012
Roger Federer has leapfrogged Rafael Nadal in the world standings and is back at Number 2 after his third victory at the Madrid Open.
The former world Number 1 rallied from losing the first set to Tomas Berdych to win 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
While Nadal and world Number 1 Novak Djokovic bemoaned the new blue clay-court, Federer’s biggest obstacle was to overcome an opponent who had beaten him in three of their previous five meetings.
“It is amazing to win here again,” said Federer. “It has been a tough tournament. Tough to move, but you’ve got to try to make the most of it. Here there was some good tennis and some bad tennis, but you see that in all tournaments.”
Berdych hit 14 winners and made just two unforced errors in a dominant first set. However, Federer finally found his ground game and broke Berdych twice to even the score and force the decisive third set, where he secured victory after Berdych had saved three championship points.
The sixth-seeded Berdych jumped out to a 3-0 lead after hitting a crosscourt return to take Federer’s first service game.