Tennis story by Vinnie Mitchell, Mon, 21 Nov 2005 14:04:00 GMT


David Nalbandian staged a brilliant comeback after being two sets down to No: 1 Roger Federer to win the Masters Cup on Sunday. In the process, Nalbandian became the first Argentine to since Guillermo Vilas in 1974 to win the biggest title of his career. He also halted the 35-match winning streak of the Swiss player by winning the tie-breaker 7-3 in a match lasting four hours and 33 minutes.

Federer missed out on equalling John McEnroe's professional-era record of wining 82-3 in 1984.

Nalbandian said: “I surprised the whole world. He almost never loses. To come back from two sets down against the No 1 in the world, with his record, it's incredible.”

He won £816,000 and a new Mercedes car.

Federer said: "I feel like I've had a great year and a great tournament. Disappointment is always there, because I don't lose very often.”

This also is the first loss for Federer in his last 24 tournament finals since October 2003. After being down 4-0, he came close to winning the match when he led 6-5 at 30-0 when the crowd at Shanghai's Qi Zhong stadium was rooting for him. But Nalbandian rallied again to wrap up the match.

Federer added: “'He was way better in the third, fourth and fifth. He totally deserved to win tonight.”

In the last four ties between these two, Federer won them all. Had he won this match, he would have been only the third man to win the season-ending ATP tournament three years successively. Only Ilie Nastase between 1971-73 and Ivan Lendl 1985-87 had managed to achieve the feat.

However, it is still a creditable feat for the Swiss, who injured his ankle last month. After the match as he said that it was simply a match and a final.

Nalbandian, on the other hand, managed to register only his third tournament win in life as against Federer's 33. This might just turn the table for the 23 year old Argentine, who is famous for choking in major tournaments.

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