Rafa beats Tsitsipas for fourth Rogers title
TORONTO: Rafael Nadal ended the red-hot run of Greek upstart Stefanos Tsitsipas with a ruthless 6-2, 7-6(4) win on Sunday that gave the Spanish top seed his fourth Rogers Cup title.
Tsitsipas, who was contesting the Masters 1000 final on his 20th birthday after four consecutive wins over top-10 players in Toronto, threw all he had at Nadal but was ultimately unable to beat the world number one.
“If you told me this two weeks ago I would not have believed it,” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “It’s a great way to start the hardcourt season. Winning in Toronto is so important. You don’t win Masters 1000s very often. It’s a very important victory for me and I’m very happy.”
Tsitsipas did well to serve out at love in the first game but Nadal took over as he broke back in each of his next two chances before sealing the opening set in 34 minutes when the world number 27 sent a routine forehand into the net.
The second set looked to be going much the same way until Tsitsipas mounted a late charge that briefly shifted momentum in his favour. Nadal, serving for the match at 5-4 and having dropped only three points on serve the entire match up to that point, suddenly looked tight as Tsitsipas broke him and then held serve to pull within one game of levelling the contest.
“I got nervous, I played a terrible game,” said Nadal after winning his first hardcourt Masters title since Cincinnati in 2013. “But that’s how it is. You keep going. That’s part of the sport.
“Everybody gets tight at some moments. Today for me was an important match and I just made a couple mistakes but the positive news is I played my best match without a doubt.”
HALEP WINS FINAL
MONTREAL: World No. 1 Simona Halep turned back American Sloane Stephens 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4 to win the Rogers Cup women’s title in a rematch of their French Open finale.
Romanian Halep, who had beaten Stephens in Paris in June, claimed her second Montreal title in three years and third in the 2018 season.
BORG’S SON WINS
STOCKHOLM: Leo Borg, the 15-year-old son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg, claimed the Swedish under-16 outdoor tennis championship at the weekend. Leo Borg won two straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to defeat Ross Weibull on Sunday to take home the junior title for the second year in a row.