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Nadal bent, far from broken after Miami finals failure

Other News Materials 7 April 2008 01:41 (UTC +04:00)

Rafael Nadal won't let a Miami Masters loss to Nikolay Davydenko spoil a season in which he is making up ground on number one Roger Federer. ( dpa )

While the world number two admitted disappointment after going down 6-4, 6-1 to the Russian, it's not all gloom and doom.

Within two weeks, the Spaniard will launch a clay season where he is defending not only a third Roland Garros title but also trophies in Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Rome.

"My goal was have 1,000 ranking points after Miami. I'll have, I don't know, 1,200, 1,250, something like this. It's a lot of points on three months, so I'm happy for that," Nadal said.

He now jets off to Bremen for next weekend's Davis Cup quarter- final against Germany.

"I'm thinking about Davis Cup now. It's important competition for us," Nadal said. "Later, I'm sure I'll think of the clay season. This tournament will give me, I think, positive feeling for the clay season."

Nadal admitted that his form was off the boil against Davydenko as the number four won in less than 90 minutes with minimal resistance.

"Today I didn't play my best. He played well, and I lost. When you don't play at 100 per cent at this level against top players, it's tough to win, especially hard court," Nadal said.

"I played a very good tournament against very good players, regularly in final, semi-final. That's always positive. When you are there every week, finally, you going to win. I have to be happy about the last weeks, because I improved my level a lot."

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