The Spaniard sharpens his preparation for the Australian Open with his first trophy in eight months
While his main rival, Novak Djokovic, was isolated in a hotel and waiting to know his future, Rafa Nadal lifted his 89th career title this Sunday in the Melbourne preparatory tournament, against Maxime Cressy, 7-6 ( 6) and 6-3, and refines his form for the first Grand Slam of the season. The Spanish also has 19 consecutive seasons, since his debut in Sopot 2004, winning at least one title.
In his first official tournament since August, when he played in Washington and then closed the season with a foot injury, Nadal savored the honeys of success once again, the first since the 1000 Masters in Rome in May, precisely against Djokovic. Despite the inexperience of his rival, Maxime Cressy, world number 112, the French-American fought back thanks to an endangered style of play. “It’s nice to see players like this on the circuit,” Nadal said at the subsequent ceremony.
His serve and volley was a challenge for Nadal, who had to pull continuous ‘passing shots’ to placate the North American, who only in the first set accumulated 29 raises to the net. His serve was not a bombardment either and even Nadal added more direct services, nine for Cressy’s eight, but the positioning and aggressiveness of the American are a ‘rare bird’ in current tennis.
Cressy saved five break balls in the first set and rallied from a 3-0 defeat in the tie break. He refused to give his arm to twist and had, after a double fault by Nadal with 5-5 in the tiebreaker, a point to score the first set, the first that the Balearic could lose in this tournament. But he got smaller, went up without conviction and Nadal caught him. The Spanish did not lose one more point in the set.
This did not discourage Cressy, who took the first break of the second set, but Nadal responded quickly and applied a 5-1 set to seal the 126th final of his career, which ended with 89 titles. In addition, this marks the first time that Nadal has lifted a title at Melbourne headquarters since defeating Roger Federer in the final of the Australian Open in 2009. Nadal’s next challenge will begin on January 17, with the dispute of the first Grand. Slam of the year.
Canada leaves Spain without ATP Cup
Like two years ago, Spain nonetheless missed the glory of the ATP Cup in the final. Canada beat the Spanish team in the title match (2-0) and won the first ATP Cup in its history, succeeding Russia in the trophy.
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Bautista tries to reach a ball during his match. /
Denis Shapovalov made things very difficult for Spain in the first game, getting rid of Pablo Carreño (6-4 and 6-3) and Felix Auger-Aliassime gave Roberto Bautista the finishing touch, 7-6 (3) and 6-3, so the tie was sentenced before the doubles.
Despite the fact that both Carreño and Bautista were undefeated in the tournament, the Canadian duo, which had just eliminated Daniil Medvedev’s Russia in the semifinals, accelerated and made the crossing impossible for the Spanish. Shapovalov confirmed his improvement during the week against a Carreño denied in the break points and Auger-Aliassime did the same with Bautista, who had more opportunities than indicated by the scoreboard. The Castellón, with all the pressure of the final on his shoulders, lost ten of the eleven break balls available to him, including eight in a row in the first set, which tipped the game.
Auger-Aliassime sank his fang in the tiebreaker and in the final games of the second quarter and lifted Canada to victory, leaving Spain with honey on their lips two years after losing the final to Serbia.
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