Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sports Network) - Rafael Nadal is back.
Not that the 11-time Grand Slam champion went anywhere, but the former world
No. 1 returned to the winner's circle Sunday with a straight-set rout of David
Nalbandian for the title at the Brasil Open.
Nadal returned from a seven-month injury layoff last week with a runner-up
finish at the VTR Open in Chile. This time, the Spanish superstar made no
mistake and earned his 51st career title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in Sunday's
final.
The 26-year-old Mallorcan claimed this clay-court title for the second time,
having previously won it in his 2005 debut when it was played in Costa do
Sauipe. He improved to 51-22 all-time in finals, including 37-5 on clay.
Nadal's 35 titles on the slow surface are still third all-time, behind only
Thomas Muster (40) and Guillermo Vilas (45). He won a title for the first time
since capturing his seventh French Open championship last June.
A knee injury kept him sidelined for a majority of 2012 and the start of this
year.
After Nadal breezed through the first set Sunday, Nalbandian tried to make it
a match by winning the first three games of the second set with a pair of
breaks.
Nadal, who lost to unheralded Horacio Zeballos last week in three sets, wasn't
about to let another match slip through his hands. He quickly regrouped and
ripped off the last six games.
Nalbandian fell to 11-13 all-time in finals and hasn't won a title since the
summer of 2010 in Washington, DC. He was playing his first tournament of 2013,
sitting out the last two months of 2012 with an abdominal injury.
Nadal improved to 5-2 all-time against Nalbandian, beating the Argentine
veteran for the fifth straight time. It was their first meeting in a final
since Nalbandian's 6-4, 6-0 triumph at the 2007 Paris Indoors.
The two also played doubles together this week, but withdrew after their first
match to allow Nadal rest for his still aching knee.
The Sports Network