Nadal claims Japan Open tennis title
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World No. 1 Rafael Nadal defeated Gael Monfils of France 6-1, 7-5 in the final of Japan Open tennis championships on Sunday to claim his seventh ATP tennis tour title of the year.
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Rafael Nadal of Spain bites the trophy during the awarding ceremony for the men's singles of the Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 10, 2010. [Xinhua/Ji Chunpeng] |
"As you know this was my first visit to Japan but it won't be the last," Nadal said before a full house at Tokyo's Ariake Tennis Forest Park. "Everything has been fantastic."
In 77 minutes, the top-seeded Spaniard break Monfils three times while losing no one to his opponent, to improve his ATP World Tour-best match record to 66-8 on the season.
"Every tournament is very important; it is nice to win another big title like this one," said Nadal. "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."
Monfils suffered a heavy fall in the first set and appeared to have done some damage to his ankle. Afterwards, though, he assured media it had no bearing on the result. "The fall I had in the first set only affected me for a little while, it had no impact on the result."
Monfils had nine aces to Nadal's one for the match, locating 85 percent of his first serves. But Monfils, appearing in his 11th final on the tour, couldn't find a way to break Nadal all afternoon.
"I was warming up with the roof closed like an indoor match, and then it was outside so it was obviously more bouncy. It was tough for me to find my distance on the baseline."
However, the Frenchman said he was happy to have made it into the final and the past week in Tokyo had been "great".
Nadal has been awarded 261,500 U.S. dollars and 500 ATP ranking points, further consolidating his top position in the ranking.
The Spaniard will travel to Shanghai for the Rolex Masters championships on Sunday, where he is going to meet with Roger Federer and Novac Djokovic among other top tennis players.
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