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Spring Clay and more

Nadal Flexes Muscles to Capture French Open and Clay Season

It was more Rafael Nadal on Clay this spring season. Rafael again proved dominant on the dirt surface, culminating in his 3rd straight French title.

Rafael Nadal once again exhibited his domination on the clay court surface of Roland Garros stadium, winning his third straight French Open title over a frustrated Roger Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Using powerful ground strokes and incredible topspin, Nadal displayed his mental toughness and shot making skills, showing the world that Roger Federer may be human after all, at least on clay. Not to say that Federer did not have chances, he did. In perhaps the most telling statistic of the match, Federer was able to convert but a single break chance in 17 attempts. Nadal was 4 for 10 on break chances, with 2 in the 1st set.

An entertaining match and what was expected from the start of the tournament.

As usual, not many highlights from the Binghamton player perspective. As is typical with the clay, not too many familiar "challenger" names even in the draw. Standouts include Tipsarevic, Gaudio's backhand... even if it was for only a couple of matches.

On the local HS scene... Ryan Kovaleski and Alex Tsai were representatives in the states, however Sean Seyler out of Ithaca won his 1st 2 rounds (a rare feat for Section 4 talent). Seyler came up big in May as he defeated Kovaleski in the Section final to be the top seed from section 4. Familiar theme though as the youth rose to the occasion and possibly the older players ran out of fresh competition. Seyler and Tsai are names to be beaten in the next few years.

Dan Freeman-Sam Deluccia and Tom Castle-Jon Lesuer both out of Elmira ND and Matt Asher-Bilal Ahmed of UE got to the states doubles with all of them winning a round in the consolation.