Madrid -- Rafa vs. Ljubicic (Set 4) Sunday, October 23, 2005 Rafa is now down two sets to one. Have to give credit to Rafa. He was being outplayed in every department, and yet found a way to get a break against Ljubicic and served out the third set. He's a fighter! But he has a huge battle ahead of him to win this match. Vamos, Rafa! IL to serve. 15-0. Rafa is running like crazy now. He's like a different player than he was in the first two sets. Fault. FH winner by Rafa. 15-15. Fault. Unreturnable second serve. 30-15. BH winner. 40-15. Ace. Game IL. 0-1, Ljubicic. Rafa to serve. Rafa hits long, after good serve. 0-15. Return goes wide. 15-15. Fault. Rafa wrong-footed. IL hits BH winner. 15-30. Great volleying by Rafa. Fist pump. 30-30. Rafa's won 10 of 13 net points. Rafa winner. 40-30. Rafa remains aggressive. Vamos by Rafa. Game Nadal. 1-1, on serve. IL to serve. 15-0. Great point bhy Rafa. 15-15. Commentators think IL is tiring, but he still looks pretty dangerous to me. Rafa is running better, though. Fault. I think he's forgetting about his knees. Oh, man. Amazing winner by Nadal. Running FH winner, on the line. 15-30. Unreturnable serve. 30-30. I love the fight Rafa is demonstrating, though. Ace. 40-30. 21 aces for IL. Driving me nuts. IL hits wide, surprisingly. Deuce. Great point by Rafa. Ad Nadal. BP for Rafa. Let. Fault. FH winner by Rafa. Rafa breaks. 2-1, Nadal. Nadal serving. 0-15. Winner by IL. 0-30. More pressure on Rafa's serve. Great serve by Rafa. 15-30. Fault. UE into net by IL. 30-30. Fault. Just misses. Return goes long. 40-30. FH winner. Game Nadal. 3-1, Nadal. 30-0. Two good serves by IL. Fault. Ivan looks irritated. UE by Rfa. 40-0. Fault. FH goes wide. Game Ljubicic. 3-2, Nadal. Rafa to serve. Fault. Winner by IL. 0-15. I hope Rafa can keep up his energy level. Unreturnable serve. 15-15. Let. UE by Ivan. 30-15. Rafa hits long. 30-30. Crowd is supporting Rafa. Let. Mishit by IL. 40-30. IL upset with himself. Let. Fault. UE by Rafa into net. Deuce. Rafa is a little tight, I think. Vamos, Rafa! Crowd is supporting Rafa. Rafa hits wide, very tentative. Ad IL. BP for IL. This is key for Rafa. Vamos! IL hits wide, thank goodness. Deuce. Fault. UE by IL. Ad Nadal. Great serve. He holds. 4-2, Nadal. IL to serve. Rafa changes racquets. 15-0. Return goes long 30-0. Ace. 40-0. Fault. UE by IL. 40-15. Game IL. 4-3, Nadal. Rafa to serve. Commentators are saying IL is fighting fatigue, Nadal and all of Spain. Ivan into net. 15-0. Let. Fault. IL hits wide. 30-0. Volley winner by Nadal. 40-0. Game Nadal. 5-3, Nadal. IL to serve. S&V. 15-0. 30-0. 24th ace. 40-0. Rafa mishit. Love service game. 5-4, Nadal. Rafa to serve for the set. Vamos, Rafa! There's no doubt that Ivan would like to get this done in 4 sets. Great serve by Rafa. Ace. 15-0. Fault. Rafa hits long. 15-15. Rafa likely is a bit nervous. IL into net, after great FH by Rafa. 30-15. Vamos! Nice volley by IL. 30-30. Go Rafa! Let. Great passing shot winner by Rafa. 40-30. Set point to Rafa, after it looked as though Rafa was out of the point. Adjusts socks. Fault, but it was close. Ivan hits long. Rafa takes the SET. VAMOS!!! 6-4. posted by Susan @ 8:51 AM