Barcelona, Stuttgart: Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal has said wins at the recent Barcelona Open and Monte Carlo tennis tournaments were long sought by him.
Nadal defeated Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday to lift the Barcelona Open, his second consecutive win after Monte Carlo, reports Efe.
The Spaniard has now won his ninth Barcelona Open trophy and levelled Argentine legend Guillermo Vilas’ record of 49 clay-court titles.
“I have been working so hard to enjoy moments like this. The fact that I’m playing at home is always even more special. I’m very happy and I feel lucky to enjoy this again,” Nadal said on Sunday.
Asked whether he has returned to his best level after winning those two titles, Nadal said he never left the big stage, and noted that he tries his best at every tournament but there are good and bad times.
The 29-year-old added that he is holding the fifth place in the rankings, not the 25th. So, there is no need to be unnecessarily concerned.
Additionally, Nadal pointed out that his mindset is very different from the last season, during which he played “with anxiety”.
“When you play against players with such a high level, the match is often decided by a few moments. So, I feel happy that I handled all these important moments well mentally,” the Spaniard said.
Fresh from winning the Monte Carlo Masters last week, Nadal has now won his opening 10 matches of the European clay-court season ahead of his quest to land a record 10th French Open in June.
Nishikori was left to rue a series of missed break-point opportunities as the Japanese’s 14-match winning streak in Barcelona came to an end.
Nishikori had made the most of shock Nadal defeats to claim the title in the past two years, but despite some stiff resistence in just over two hours on court he slipped to a ninth defeat in 10 matches against the 14-time Grand Slam champion.
“It’s been a great three years, even though I lost today,” said Nishikori.
“I feel very comfortable here, every year I feel very excited, so I hope I can come back next year.”
In Stuttgart, top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis were beaten in the women’s doubles final of the Stuttgart Open tournament by second seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, 6-2, 1-6, 6-10. The Indo-Swiss pair went down in one hour and 21 minutes here on Sunday.
Sania-Martina were eyeing their 14th title together. They were aiming at their first title since February but were undone by a stunning turnaround by the French pair.
Sania-Martina began the match brightly, winning the first set comfortably 6-2. But the French duo recovered from a set down to clinch the match in the tie-breaker. They were the more aggressive team, hitting 25 winners to 16 by Sania-Martina.
It was the second title of the season for the French pair.
Sania-Martina have stumbled in their recent tournaments, exiting in the second-round at the Miami Masters and the first at the Indian Wells.
