Nadal added this title to his trophy from Monte Carlo last week as the 14-time Grand Slam victor regains form on his favourite surface ahead of next month’s French Open.
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Paire had beaten Nishikori in their two most recent meetings in Nishikori’s homeland in Tokyo and in a five-set thriller at the US Open a year ago.
In the first clay Masters of the year, against the picture-book backdrop of Monaco, the world No5 reclaimed a title that he had dominated for eight consecutive years until 2012, winning not just his first title since the summer of 2015 but his first Masters title in two years.
Dolgopolov struggled in the second set, making 32 unforced errors to Nishikori’s 16 in the match on the outdoor clay court.
Paire broke back soon after, but it turned out to be a mere stutter on the way to an emphatic victory for Nishikori, who won 59% of points on his opponent’s serve during set two. Since retiring with an abdominal strain in Rio, the Italian had slipped to No31 in the rankings after playing just one more match before Barcelona, and that a first-round loss in Monte-Carlo.
However, once again Nishikori battled back to move level at 4-4 but Nadal was not to be denied and took the second set 7-5.
Nishikori, ranked No. 6 in the world, defeated Benoit Paire of France, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals, while Nadal downed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 6-3, 6-3. Nadal came up with big serves and monstrous forehands when in trouble and was unrelenting from the back of the court when Nishikori was under pressure on his serve.
“It was a very close match”, he said.
“Today I made four or five great returns”, Nishikori said.
Playing near their best, both top-10 players never let the other settle in while serving.
Nadal held serve in an epic fifth game that saw six deuces and two unconverted break points by Nishikori.
Nadal answered with a hard-fought game – which included two superb rallies won by the home favorite at the net – to recover the break.
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Cagla Buyukakcay capped a historic week at the Istanbul Cup by becoming the first Turkish victor of a WTA tournament following a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic.
