That’s a fifth Rogers Cup for Rafael Nadal
MONTREAL — Rafael Nadal has added a fifth Rogers Cup title.
The tournament’s top seed made quick work of Daniil Medvedev in the men’s final Sunday, defeating the Russian 6-3, 6-0 at IGA Stadium in just 70 minutes.
Nadal, 33, won last year’s Rogers Cup in Toronto, where he also triumphed in 2008.
“I played a solid match, my best match of the week so far without a doubt,” Nadal said. “I did a lot of things well: changing directions, changing rhythms.”
The Spaniard’s other two victories on Canadian soil came in Montreal back in 2005 at age 19 over Andre Agassi — his firstever hard court conquest — and against Milos Raonic in 2013.
Currently ranked second in the world, Nadal improved to 41-6 in 2019 and raised his third trophy of the season at the US$5.7-million ATP Tour Masters 1000 series event after also winning on clay in Rome and at the French Open.
He advanced to Sunday’s showdown with Medvedev after Gael Monfils withdrew from their scheduled semifinal with an ankle injury.
The Frenchman was forced to play a quarter-final delayed more than 18 hours by inclement weather against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday afternoon. Monfils only had a short time to recover before the subsequent match with Nadal, and decided against risking further damage.
Nadal fought off a break point in the first game of Sunday’s opening set before going up 3-1 when Medvedev double faulted. Then leading 5-3, the Spaniard sealed the set with a great passing forehand shot down the line after Medvedev came to the net.
Medvedev, who was playing Nadal for the first time, was broken again to open the second set. Despite clearly being second favourite in the eyes of the crowd, fans tried to spur the Russian on down 2-0, but his shaky performance continued as he was broken again to fall behind even further when his shot went long on another break.
Then trailing 4-0, Medvedev was broken again when his shot went into the net. Nadal served out from there to clinch the 83rd tournament win — and 20th on a hard court — of his singles career.
“I knew how it’s going to be,” Medvedev said of playing Nadal. “I was kind of ready for it. Then didn’t manage to probably show my best tennis, but at the same time Rafa was incredible today.
“I need to see the match on the TV to say for sure, but congrats to him. I need to do better next time.”
The Spaniard also defended a hard court title for the first time in walloping an opponent that hadn’t lost a set all week before Sunday.
The 6-3, 6-0 score was the most lopsided men’s final at the event since American star John McEnroe defeated countryman Vitas Gerulaitas 6-0, 6-3 in 1984.
Seeded eighth at the tournament and starting the week ranked No. 9 in the world, Medvedev was the first Russian to play in a men’s Rogers Cup final since Marat Safin won back in 2000 when it was called the du Maurier Open. Andrei Chesnokov was also victorious in 1991, while Yevgeny Kafelnikov lost the 1999 final.
The 23-year-old Medvedev defeated countryman Karen Khachanov 6-1, 7-6 (6) in the only semifinal to be played Saturday, and will jump over his fellow Moscow native into eighth in the overall rankings when the new list is released Monday.
Medvedev entered Sunday with a 4-4 record against top-10 opponents in 2019, including a quarter-final victory in Montreal over world No. 4 Dominic Thiem of Austria. A four-time winner on tour, Sunday marked his fifth final of the year, including last weekend’s loss to Nick Kygrios in Washington.
Fans in Montreal were invited to to watch the women’s final from Toronto on screens around the grounds, but many didn’t make it to see Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu’s win as Serena Williams retired during the final due to injury.