Nadal back to his best with Rio win
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Rafael Nadal returned from a troublesome back injury to win the Rio Open on Sunday, defeating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Nadal’s victory comes four weeks after losing the Australian Open final to underdog Stanislas Wawrinka after tweaking his back while warming up.
Nadal, who had to fend off two match points in the semifinal against Pablo Andujar, looked more comfortable in the final and improved his record on clay to 298 wins and 21 losses, the best in the Open Era.
The Spaniard declined to talk about his back, focusing instead on the victory.
“Clearly, it was important for me to get back and win after what happened in the final in Australia,” Nadal said.
He said the heat, the court preparation and the quick balls used in the event made it difficult. He has complained about the fast balls all week.
Nadal has won three times in Brazil and hopes to return next year. He’s also eyeing the 2016 Rio Olympics where he’d seek a second gold medal. He won gold in 2008 in Beijing.
“I leave with the sensation that Brazil is something special for me,” he said.
Top-ranked Nadal used the Latin American clay-court swing to launch his comeback a year ago from a left knee injury. It went just fine with titles in the French and US Open.
He’ll take the same approach this time, hoping injuries don’t slow him heading to the French Open in three months.
In the women’s final, Kurumi Nara of Japan defeated top-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 to win her first WTA singles title.
Nara, the 22-year-old Japanese, was seeded fifth in the tournament and is Japan’s top-ranked woman. She prefers to play on hard courts but adapted to the heat and clay in Rio.
In Marseille, France, third-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia showed he has the temperament for big matches, extending his perfect record in finals to 5-0 after beating defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win the Open 13 title.
Gulbis, ranked 23rd, beat France’s two best players in straight sets on his way to the title, having eliminated the top-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. “It’s a really nice record for me. Five-nil is really good. I remember when I used to play Futures and Challengers, I think I lost maybe one or two finals,” Gulbis said. “When I get into finals I really have good form and good confidence and play my best tennis.”
This time last year, the 25-year-old Gulbis was ranked outside the Top 100, but is now on the verge of breaking into the Top 20.
In Florida, Croatia’s Marin Cilic won the Delray Beach Open for his 11th ATP World Tour title and second in three weeks, beating Kevin Anderson 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 6-4 in 3 hours, 8 minutes.
Cilic leads the tour with 18 match wins this season. He improved to 3-1 against Anderson, the 2012 Delray winner.
“These three weeks have been very long for me,” said Cilic, the winner in Zagreb and runner-up last week in Rotterdam. “I’m going to enjoy it for a while and have a little rest.”
The match was the first final in tournament history with two sets decided in tiebreakers.
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