Firstly in the quarters, Rafa faced Ivan Ljubicic who retired injured at the start of the third set when it was one set all at 3-6, 6-3 ...
Which brought about a semi-final encounter with his close friend, the lovely Feli Lopez *swoons* ... who retired ... injured at 1-6, 0-3 down !!!
... so Rafa had a fairly comfortable passage into the his first final since May where he was to meet an in-form Nikolay Davydenko.
And in form he was. Rafa was broken early in the first set but recovered the break and actually held set points which he was unable to convert. Davydenko though was playing a fantastic match and the first set had to be settled on a breaker, which Davy won 7-3. Rafa, still looking for confidence, did what he always does in these circumstances and retreated further and further back from the baseline. He was broken in the second set and ran out the loser 6-3.
He still, however, remained upbeat (of sorts) in his presser and said he felt at least he could compete at 100% against a top 10 player. Its all a question of time, Rafa. Keep working and trying, and lets not forget that this young man had only practised for a couple of days before flying out to the Far East. So its a couple or so weeks rest and practice till the tour picks up again in Paris. Vamos Rafa!!!
Spanish TV clip of the final ...
Rafa's trophy ceremony and his little speech ...
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