Nadal routs Kyrgios to win 75th career title in Beijing
Rafa Nadal extended his win streak to 12 straight with the China Open title on Sunday, defeating Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1.
The Spaniard, who remains undefeated since returning to World No. 1 on August 21, tightened his grip on the top spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London, atpworldtour.com reported.
Now up to 2,360 points over Roger Federer, he has put himself in prime position to cap his 2017 campaign in No. 1 fashion.
Victory in Beijing gave Nadal his 75th career crown, moving to within two titles of John Mcenroe for fourth on the Open Era list. It was his second triumph in the Chinese capital, having previously defeated Guillermo Coria for the 2005 trophy.
The Manacor native, who notched his 60th match win of the season with a semifinal victory over Grigor Dimitrov, added a sixth title this year. He previously emerged victorious at the U.S. Open one month ago, in addition to wins at Roland Garros, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Monte-carlo and Madrid, as well as in Barcelona.
Top seed Nadal was a force from the back of the court throughout the one-hour and 32-minute encounter. He saved 22 of 25 break points entering Sunday’s clash and would deny all four faced against the Aussie. Kyrgios would strike 20 winners, but was unable to overcome 35 unforced errors.
Kyrgios entered the encounter on the heels of a 6-2, 7-5 win over Nadal at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, leveling their Fedex ATP Head2head at 2-2. But Nadal, who had defeated the World No. 19 on the clay of Madrid earlier this year, would get his revenge on Sunday.
The Spaniard’s victory marks the 12th time a player has won an ATP World Toru title after saving match point(s) this year. He had denied two against Lucas Pouille in a first-round thriller.
Kyrgios, meanwhile, was appearing in his second final of the season, having fallen to Dimitrov at the Western & Southern Open in August. One year removed from his last victory in Tokyo, he is now 3-3 in ATP World Tour title matches. He takes home $319,825 in prize money and is in the hunt for a first appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, moving to 15th position in the Emirates ATP Race To London.
“He played well. I played terrible. He’s in great form. He just destroyed me today, so it was too good,” said Kyrgios.
“I put in a pretty good week, had some good wins. It’s tough to find positives when you won three games in the final. But I guess there were positives. In the semifinal I played well, obviously beating Alex [Zverev].”