Beijing: World No. 1 Rafael Nadal won his sixth title of another remarkable year as he punished a disgruntled Nick Kyrgios at the China Open on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Spaniard was never really in trouble against the temperamental Australian in a 6-2, 6-1 rout in 92 minutes on Beijing’s outside hard courts.
Nadal, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, came to the Chinese capital on the back of winning his third US Open.
He saved two match points in his nervy opener against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
But after that Nadal sliced through the opposition to win the China Open for the first time since making his debut in Beijing in 2005.
Since then Nadal has gone on to become one of the greatest players of all time and he underlined his brilliance in swatting aside the 22-year-old Kyrgios.
The world-ranked 19 displayed his best side in forcing Nadal to 2-2 in the first set, but his other side emerged later.
Kyrgios was already on a warning from the umpire from the first game of the match for something he said.
And when he went down 30-0 on Nadal’s serve at 2-2, he began the first in a series of lengthy discussions with the umpire — frequently spreading his arms in despair.
The Australian, going for a fourth career title, shook his head and continued the discussion as he trudged back to his chair, initially to whistles from the crowd and then cheers to encourage him.
Kyrgios, whose undoubted talent has often been overshadowed by his on-court conduct, collected a penalty point as his title hopes quickly evaporated.
Earlier, Belgium’s David Goffin beat Adrian Mannarino of France in straight sets to win the Japan Open, his second victory in consecutive weeks.
Fourth seed Goffin prevailed 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 24 minutes against the unseeded Mannarino in the final at the Ariake Coliseum, capturing his fourth career title.
It was Goffin’s second straight final at the Japan event after he went down last year to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.
Mannarino, who defeated Croatian top seed Marin Cilic in the semi-finals on Saturday, temporarily took the initiative in the second set after being overmatched in the first.
But Goffin, 26, persistently closed up and eventually went past the Frenchman after breaking at 5-5.
“It wasn’t easy,” Goffin said afterwards.
“The final is always tough, to manage the emotions before and during the match,” he said, according to the ATP World Tour.
“At the end I started to be a little more aggressive on the return of serve, and I was pleased to come back and break him at 5-5.”
Goffin also won last week, at the Shenzhen Open.
“I got the break in the second set but couldn’t hold my serve,” Mannarino said.
