2010 Tennis Rakuten Japan: Rafael Nadal captures Tokyo title
The top seed Spaniard Rafael Nadal captured seventh trophy of the year as he brushed aside Gael Monfils in the final of the 2010 Rakuten Japan Open Singles Competition on Sunday. The final match score was 6-1, 7-5. The clash concluded in a time period of
seventy seven minutes in Tokyo.
The 24-year-old Nadal, as a result of this victory, has improved his final record to 7-1 this year; his only loss came in Doha at the hands of Nikolay Davydenko earlier in January. Rafa completed a clean sweep of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay surface
competitions in Madrid, Rome and Monte-Carlo before capturing three Grand Slam crowns at French Open, Wimbledon as well as Flushing Meadows in New York.
World number one after his victory on Sunday said, "Every championship is very important; it is nice to win another big title like this one. I won a lot this year but I have to appreciate how difficult it is and how much hard work you have to do. I improved
a lot my serve and it is a big thing on a surface as quick as here in Tokyo."
The left hander missed just a single set during his first appearance in Tokyo, as he was forced to prevent two match points in the semi-final battle versus Viktor Troicki. The Manacor native is the fourth contender in 2010 to grab an ATP World Tour crown
having prevented a match point at some stage during the championship, following Sam Querrey, Nikolay Davydenko and John Isner.
Rafael, who has already qualified for the season ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, secured ranking points of 500 in the ATP along with prize money of $261,500 on Sunday.
It was their eighth clash together and the Spaniard registered his seventh win against the French tennis player, Gael Monfils in two sets. The top-ranked Nadal won the opening set comfortably, breaking his opponent’s serve during the second and sixth game
on Sunday. Gael, however, came out more strongly in the following set and his serve also looked much better, smashing a total of seven aces as he kept Rafa at bay, but the world number one was able to convert his only break point opportunity in the eleventh
game and sealed win in the end.
Nadal, when asked about his opponent in his yesterday’s match, said, "Monfils is a great player; I played very well today and that is why I won. I was not really tired after the semi final against Viktor. Gael beat me before in Doha in 2009 and we had other
tough matches."
The Spaniard has now improved his match record to 66-8 on the season. He was appearing in his second championship since winning the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York. Last week he made his way into the final four at the PTT Thailand
Open in Bangkok, where he was defeated by Garcia-Lopez.
World number fifteen Gaels, on the other hand, was appearing in his eleventh final of his career. The right hander previously ended as finalist in Stuttgart to Montanes and was attempting to capture his first crown since Open de Moselle after getting the
better of Kohlschreiber last year. The Paris-native made his way into the final in Tokyo after outlasting a couple of important players including Andy Roddick on his way.
The Frenchman, despite of losing, was happy and quite satisfied with his overall performance in the tournament and added that he is looking forward to continue with his form for the rest of the season.
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