It was close for a game. Federer played aggressive and held his own serve. But as Nadal is wont to do, he made it tough for Federer to make a dent on his serve. Federer would lose his next serve as he tried to be aggressive but kept making too many errors. Federer seemed frustrated how many shots Nadal would chase down and felt the need to be aggressive, often at in opportune moment.
Federer would give up another break at the end of the first set to lose it 6-3. He had opportunities to break early in the second, failed to do so, and got broken instead. It was all he could do to hold serve, before getting broken a second time at the end.
So sets up the rematch between Nadal and Djokovic, the same as Indian Wells. Nadal seems to have his serve in order. He gave Djokovic all he could handle until Djokovic started returning better and Nadal started serving more poorly.
Will Nadal give Djokovic his first loss of the year? I think it’s possible, but Djokovic has continued to show dominance. He won his match over Fish 6-3, 6-1, in yet another lopsided match, one of many that Djokovic has been issuing to his opponents.
This could be a fun final with both players striking the ball well.
And Roger Federer now has to think about what he needs to do next. He’s still very good, but is he top 2 good anymore?