Nadal ‘destroys’ agitated Kyrgios in China

BEIJING: Rafael Nadal won his sixth title of another remarkable year by beating an agitated Nick Kyrgios at the China Open yesterday, while unseeded Caroline Garcia stunned the new World No 1 Simona Halep.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion Nadal saw the Australian Kyrgios hit with a penalty point as the Spanish No 1 eased to a 6-2, 6-1 victory on the Beijing hard courts.

Nadal, for whom this was a landmark 75th ATP crown, came to the Chinese capital on the back of winning his third US Open.

The 31-year-old saved two match points in his nervy opener against Frenchman Lucas Pouille, but was never really in trouble as Kyrgios’s final hopes evaporated in acrimony.

The 22-year-old Australian was upset with a call in the first game and appeared unable to let it go after that, earning a warning and then a penalty point.

“I have lot of respect for Nick, he’s one of the players with more talent on the tour,” Nadal, considered one of the best players ever, said.

Nadal added that he hopes the temperamental Kyrgios, ranked 19 in the world, will one day fulfil his potential.

“The feeling is if he really wants to play and wants to work, he is one of the players that have more talent to achieve a lot of things in this sport,” said Nadal, who will go immediately on next to the Shanghai Masters.

Kyrgios, who was going after a fourth career title, said he had been “destroyed” by Nadal.

“I don’t know, I just got super frustrated,” he said. “I mean, I obviously didn’t react professionally. Obviously that’s why I got a warning.

“But I mean, that didn’t really matter today. He played well, I played terrible.”

Unseeded Caroline of France won her second title in as many weeks as she stunned Simona in a closely fought final.

Caroline is in the form of her life and edged out the Romanian second seed 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to add the China Open to the Wuhan Open title she lifted last week.

Caroline sank to her knees on the hard court when she finally sealed victory in the second-set tie break.

“I was like, seriously, this really happened?” Caroline said afterwards, asked what was in her mind when she slumped to her knees.

Meanwhile, Belgium’s David Goffin beat Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3, 7-5 to win the Japan Open yesterday, his second victory in consecutive weeks. Agencies