Top 10 men's tennis matches of 2014

The men’s season has come to an end and what a year it has been for tennis. We saw some brilliant play from the best competitors in the world, we saw two new Grand Slam champions being crowned (at the Australian Open and the US Open) and we saw a lot of other players make it big this year. There were some epic matches which went right down to the wire. On several occasions, a player won a match after saving match points against the opponent. There have also been a lot of upsets during the course of the year. Let’s have a look at the top 10 men’s matches of 2014. 

#10 Rafael Nadal vs Pablo Andujar - Rio Open semifinal

It was a season of upsets for Rafael Nadal in 2014. After years of dominance on clay, his fellow countrymen finally learnt how to defeat him on the surface. David Ferrer halted the World No. 3’s nine-year run of reaching the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final with a straight-sets win in the quarterfinals, and a week later Nicolas Almagro handed him his first defeat in 11 years at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. 

But before either of those losses, it looked like Pablo Andujar would be the first person in 2014 to defeat him on clay, when he won the first set 6-2 with aggresive play in the Rio Open semifinals. Nadal looked to have restored order after snatching the second set and securing a break in the seventh game of the decider, but Andujar was far from willing to lose as he broke back immediately. 

The match went on to the tie-break in the third set, where Nadal looked in control. Andujar kept fighting back and saving match points, but he could not do enough as Nadal kept his nerve to win the match.

Score: Rafael Nadal def. Pablo Andujar 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(10).