Rafael Nadal beat Nick Kyrgios of Australia 6-2,6-1 Sunday in the China Open final to win his sixth ATP title of the year, and Caroline Garcia defeated soon-to-be-No.
R afael Nadal beat Nick Kyrgios of Australia 6-2,6-1 Sunday in the China Open final to win his sixth ATP title of the year, and Caroline Garcia defeated soon-to-be-No. 1 Simona Halep 6-4,7-6 (3) in the women’s event.
Top-ranked Nadal, who was tied with Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev at five titles this season, picked up his 75th career singles trophy with the win in Beijing.
The 15th-ranked Garcia, who lost to Halep the two previous times they played, won her second consecutive WTA title. The Frenchwoman will make her top-10 debut when the new rankings come out on Monday.
The 31-year-old Nadal’s six trophies this year include a record 10th title at the French Open and a third at the U. S. Open. The last time the Spaniard won at least six titles in a year was in 2013 when he captured 10 trophies for the season.
Kyrgios started Sunday struggling with his serve and never found a confident range throughout the match. His first-serve percentage mostly languished under the 50 percent mark.
In contrast, Nadal always looked in charge and saved all four break points he faced.
„I was playing very high intensity the whole match, changing the directions and not making many mistakes,“ Nadal said.
K yrgios offered Nadal eight break points in the first set with Nadal taking two service breaks.
K yrgios was angered by a line call in the first set and his complaints eventually cost him a penalty point at the start of the eighth game.
