Nadal claims 80th ATP Tour title with Rogers Cup success

Stefanos Tsitsipas was unable to claim a first ATP Tour title on the day he turned 20 as Rafael Nadal won the Rogers Cup final.

Published : Aug 13, 2018 08:11 IST

Rafael Nadal spoiled Stefanos Tsitsipas' 20th birthday with a straight-sets victory that earned the world number one his 80th ATP Tour title.

Top seed and 17-time grand slam champion Nadal was not in the mood for offering the Greek youngster any gifts as he sealed a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) success in Toronto on Sunday.

Nadal has now won 33 Masters 1000 tournaments – including four Rogers Cup trophies – though this was his first on hard court in five years.

Unseeded Greek Tsitsipas had beaten Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, defending champion Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson en route to the final, but Nadal denied him what would have been a first ATP Tour title.

Tsitsipas showed no sign of early nerves when he held his opening service game to love but the more experienced Nadal was typically clinical from the baseline and soon claimed two breaks.

And the Spaniard wrapped up the first set in just 35 minutes thanks to nine winners.

Another break for Nadal at the start of the second set suggested the final could be over quickly, particularly when Tsitsipas won just two points across the Spaniard's next four service games.

However, with Nadal on serve and one game from victory, Tsitsipas picked a timely moment to claim his first break.

The Greek then had set point on Nadal's serve only for the Spaniard to survive when his dink hit the net and fell on Tsitsipas' side of the court.

Tsitsipas had a mini-break in the tie-break but Nadal fought back and took his first match point with a forehand winner.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment