Nadal, fifth in the ATP ranking, beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4
Rafael Nadalfifth in the ATP ranking, has beaten the British 6-4, 6-4 Cameron Norrie to win the Mexican Tennis Open and add on ttulo 91 as a professional.
Nadalwinner of 21 Grand Slam tournaments, admitted to appreciating his fourth Aacapulco openthat the first in 2005 when he was an unknown, invited to the tournament with a wild card.
“It’s been many years of career, so it was something new; now it is valued more than at 18“, said Nadal after winning the 91st title of his professional career, 6-4, 6-4 over Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Nadal he started a bit out of range, with some unforced errors at the start of the match, but he soon recovered his tennis, started to hurt with his serve and in the fifth game he decided the set.
Although he kept a 86% effective with his first serve, the key to the manacor’s triumph in the opening round was his fine tennis at the decisive moment, in addition to not allowing Norrie It would create danger in the Spaniard’s service turns.
The second set started unbeatable for Rafa. With the score at 30-30, he fired a cross to the line to go ahead and signed the break seconds later, much to the frustration of the Briton, who crashed the racket on the ground.
Releasing the rage did him good. Norrie. pressure to Nadal in the second game, he put it on mate point, 15-40 and although Rafa I provoke a deucesuffered his first break for 1-1.
After two ‘games’ in which they appeared to be a peace truce, in the fifth game Nadal He pressed again, forced his rival to make unforced errors and broke his serve to take a 3-2 lead, which he extended to 4-2 by confirming the service break.
Nadal saw wounded Norrie and sought to hurt him; a shot from the world number 12 hit the net and went to the side, which frustrated him and he was no longer able to amend the ‘game’, which meant his third loss against in the set.
When it seemed settled, Norrie showed pride, broke and closed to 5-4 after confirming his service, however in the tenth game Rafa closed with lordship; he kept serve and reached 15 wins in the beginning of the season, the best of his professional career.
With the result, the Spaniard added his third title in 2022: the Melbourne tournament, the Australian Open and Acapulcoin which he added his fourth title to catch up with his compatriot David Ferrer and the Austrian Thomas Muster.
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