Nadal topples birthday boy Tsitsipas in final, fellow No. 1 Halep overcomes Stephens

TORONTO (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal ended the red-hot run of Greek upstart Stefanos Tsitsipas with a ruthless 6-2, 7-6(4) win late Sunday that gave the Spanish top seed his fourth Rogers Cup championship.

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 No. 1.

“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 hard-court 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 No. 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 favor.

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 leveling the contest.

“I got nervous, I played a terrible game,” said Nadal after winning his first hard-court Masters title since Cincinnati in 2013. “But that’s how it is. You keep going. That’s part of the sport.”

The win made the 32-year-old Spaniard, who also won the Rogers Cup in 2005, 2008 and 2013, the fourth player in the professional era to win 80 titles, joining a club that includes Jimmy Connors (109), Roger Federer (98) and Ivan Lendl (94).

In women’s action, Simona Halep battled third-seeded Sloane Stephens in Montreal to win her second Rogers Cup title 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4.

In a rematch of this year’s French Open championship match, won by Halep, the two women went back and forth for two hours and 41 minutes in a match that featured 15 service breaks. Halep, a 26-year-old Romanian ranked No. 1 in the world, fell to the ground after serving an ace to close out the match.

Stephens, 25, will defend her US Open title beginning August 27 in New York, but is 0-8 against No. 1-ranked players.

The Rogers Cup was Halep’s third WTA title of 2018 and the 18th of her career. She also won the Rogers Cup in 2016.