Not a bad way to celebrate a 31st birthday.  The most prominent bald man in tennis is now Ivan Ljubicic.  Sometimes, having been on the tour a long time helps you get through a tough match like this.

Nadal was playing aggressive tennis as usual and engineered a break in the first set and eventually held to take it 6-3.  Ljubicic had to work though a 0-40 game and hold there and eventually play a good game to break and hold in the third set, 6-4.  The two stayed on serve in the third set until the tiebreak.  At that point, aggressive Nadal turned to tentative Nadal.  Rather than play aggressively, Nadal began spinning shots more.  Ljubicic took a high spinny shot to hit backhand and drove it for a winner than had Nadal hit a forehand long and was eventually up 5-1.  Finally, Ljubicic struck a huge forehand up the line and took the tiebreak, 7-1.

If Ljubicic showed anything, it is that perseverance pays off.  He beat Nadal with the two big shots in his game: his serve and his forehand.  Ljubicic has shown an ability to hit his forehand inside-in or inside-out and hit it big.  Nadal struggled with his serve throughout the match.  Although Ljubicic is not the quickest guy on tour, he knows how to hit big shots and that’s important against Nadal because you’re not going to outlast Nadal from the baseline.  You need to hit big shots.

So Ljubicic has his first win over Nadal since years ago, and is in a Masters 1000 final.  This is a great showing for him with a victory over Djokovic and now over Nadal.  I figured he wouldn’t have a chance, with Nadal’s aggressive strokes.  However, I didn’t expect Nadal to struggle with the Ljubicic serve and game, which he did.

Up next, Roddick takes on Robin Soderling in the other semifinals.