ACAPULCO, Mexico —
Rafael Nadal continued his perfect start to 2022, beating Cameron
Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to lift the Acapulco ATP title in his first tournament since
winning the Australian Open.
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Nadal needed one
hour and 54 minutes to beat Britain’s 12th-ranked
Norrie for the fourth time in
as many career meetings.
“Cameron is a very
solid player, he’s a tricky player, he makes you feel that you cannot play
comfortable against him at all,” Nadal said.
“I had been going
through some very difficult moments in the match.”
But the world
number five wasn’t too unsettled to claim a 91st career victory, and his fourth
in Acapulco after wins in 2005, 2013 and 2020.
As he did in 2020,
Nadal won this week without dropping a set.
Nadal is undefeated
since losing to Lloyd Harris in the third round at Washington on August 5,
2021. He ended his 2021 season after that because of a left foot injury.
He returned to win
the Melbourne Summer Set
Australian Open warm-up, then won the Australian Open
for a second time to break out of a tie with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic
for most men’s Grand Slam singles titles.
His victory over
Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final was a classic, the Spaniard
rallying from two sets down to triumph.
He beat the Russian
again in the semi-finals on Friday, just a day after Medvedev was assured of
rising to number one in the world thanks to Djokovic’s early exit at Dubai.
“I’m very pleased,”
Nadal said of his week’s work.
“It was a very
important title for me, so I can’t be happier.”
He started strongly
against Norrie, putting 89 percent of his first serves in play in the first set
and winning 79 percent of those points.
Nadal pounced on
his first break point in the fifth game of the first set, firing a forehand
winner.
The Spaniard looked
as if he could run away with the match when he broke Norrie in the opening game
of the second set.
But Norrie – who
was riding an eight-match winning streak that included a run to the title in
Delray Beach last week – hit back to level at 1-1, though he needed four break
points to do it.
Down 0-40, Nadal
saved three break points before Norrie came out on top in a 20-ball rally.
After Norrie held
for 2-1, Nadal reeled off the next four games only for Norrie to strike back
again as Nadal served for the match at 5-3, the 21-time Grand Slam champion
surrendering a break with two forehand errors.
Nadal made no
mistake on his second attempt to serve out, reaching match point with a volley
winner before Norrie belted a forehand long.
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