More Rogers Cup:Men's rankingsRecord week at RexallNestor takes doubles THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO -- With seeds and raindrops falling all around him, Rafael Nadal never flinched and never faltered.
He sprinted through a soaking-wet Rogers Cup without slipping, putting the finishing touches on his fifth straight title with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the final of the US$2.6-million tournament on Sunday.
Just weeks after winning Wimbledon, the second-ranked Spaniard is closing in on World No. 1 Roger Federer for the ATP's top ranking. He has seven titles already this season, while Federer has two.
So is Nadal the best player in tennis?
"Every player wants to be No. 1, no?" he said. "I would love to be No. 1, but I am No. 2 right now."
His opponents would disagree.
"I think he'll be the upcoming No. 1," Kiefer said following the match.
"He never misses," said France's Richard Gasquet, Nadal's victim in the quarter-finals. "He's like that all the match. You have to play so aggressive. If you don't play aggressive he has such a big forehand.
"He's the best player in the world for me, and it will be really hard for one player to win him."
Added eighth seed Andy Murray, whom Nadal ousted in the semifinals: "I just think the way that he moves and returns on the quicker courts is much better than it was before. That's why I think he'll be No. 1 in the world soon."
To this point, Nadal has taken great pains to make sure everyone knows he isn't gunning for that spot -- held since Feb. 2, 2004 by Federer, who fell here in his first match to France's Gilles Simon.
"I think doesn't change too much being No. 1 or No. 2," Nadal said. "If I'm No. 1 I'm going to be prepared, sure. I am prepared. But, you know, right now I'm still No. 2.
"I think you guys forget, and that's the true right now, no? ... I think I have to be happy, very happy anyway if I am No. 1 or No. 2, because if I am No. 2, it's because in front of me there is amazing player like Roger."
Federer didn't look so amazing here, but he wasn't the only one. Defending champion and third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, whose hard-court prowess earned him an Australian Open title and a spot in the U.S. Open final last year, fell in straight sets in the quarter-finals.
Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, Spain's David Ferrer and American Andy Roddick -- Nos. 4, 5 and 6 in the world respectively -- didn't even make it that far, falling in the Round of 16.
Some looked injured or indifferent, while some just seemed to lack focus, perhaps worn down by a punishing ATP schedule.
Not Nadal. Though the 22-year-old has won five straight tournaments and 29 straight matches, playing as much as anyone else on the tour, he seems indefatigable. He moved beautifully throughout the week, chasing down balls that were seemingly out of his reach and never looking even the least bit vulnerable.
He dropped just a single set in the tournament.
"He's hitting his forehand so well and he moves great and his mental strength is, I think, the best on the tour," Murray said.
"So, you know, there's few guys that can sort of get up and play his game style every single day and never get tired of doing it."
Why is Nadal so unbeatable right now?
"I don't know -- I mean, if I would have the solution, I would change it, but so far I didn't find a little thing," Kiefer said.
Indeed, he had no answers Sunday. Nadal seemed to have considerably less trouble with Kiefer than he did with Murray or Gasquet, breezing through the final in one hour 30 minutes. He first broke the German in the fifth game when Kiefer, down 15-40, had Nadal far out of position but gently laid his drop shot into the net.
The players then held serve until the ninth game, when Kiefer's double fault gave Nadal the set point.
But Kiefer kept fighting into the second set. He had a chance to break Nadal in the fifth game, but after going to deuce six times, Nadal took the game when Kiefer blooped a backhand well wide.
That's when Kiefer came unravelled. He double-faulted twice in the next game, then launched a forehand high and long before Nadal's forehand winner gave him the break.
Nadal went on to take seven of the next nine points, finishing with an overhead winner to ice his 30th career title, spreading his arms out and looking to the sky in celebration.
"The result was easier than the match I think," Nadal said.
The unseeded Kiefer, playing in his first ATP final since 2005, made a respectable showing but didn't play with quite the same aggressiveness that helped him get past Mardy Fish, Mikhail Youzhny, Davydenko, seventh-seeded American James Blake and Gilles Simon in prior rounds.
The 31-year-old seemed content to trade groundstrokes with Nadal. He rarely went to the net, and when he did, Nadal had an answer. When Kiefer moved in during the marathon fifth game of the second set, Nadal caught his lob with a leaping backhand. Kiefer responded by simply tossing his racket at the ball.
His first serve routinely failed him -- he managed to get 47 per cent across -- and he made 31 unforced errors to Nadal's 15.
Of course, Kiefer isn't the only one who hasn't been able to figure Nadal out.
"It's not only myself who's struggling with his game," Kiefer said.
For Nadal, getting a win in the first hardcourt tournament of the season was important.
"I win on every surface, no? I win on grass, on hard, on indoor, and on clay, too. So if I am playing my best tennis I can win on every surface, no?"
Earlier, Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic won the doubles final with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 decision over the American duo of Bob and Mike Bryan.
No comments:
Post a Comment