RAFAEL NADAL WINS ABU DHABI TITLE OVER MILOS RAONIC, & FELLOW SPANIARD FERRER TAKES THIRD PLACE BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: on 2nd January 2016
Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi
RAFAEL NADAL WINS ABU DHABI TITLE OVER MILOS RAONIC, & FELLOW SPANIARD FERRER TAKES THIRD PLACE BY RICKY DIMON

epa05086233 Spain's Rafael Nadal poses with his trophy after defeating Milos Raonic of Canada in their final match of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 02 January 2016. EPA/ALI HAIDER  |

It won’t bring any ranking points. It will, though, bring an additional $250,000 to Rafael Nadal’s bank account. But most importantly, this week’s action at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship will give Nadal additional confidence heading into the 2016 ATP World Tour season. That’s because he triumphed in Saturday’s final 7-6(2), 6-3 over Milos Raonic after one hour and 30 minutes.

 

The world No. 5 steamrolled through the opening tiebreaker before seizing a significant upper hand by breaking for 3-1 in the second. He eventually converted match point on serve at 5-3with a punishing inside-out forehand.

 

“It’s a great feeling,” Nadal assured. “It’s a great way to start the new season winning against two of the best players in the world (Raonic and David Ferrer) and playing at the right level. I played a good level of tennis and I’m happy for that.

 

This is the third time he has prevailed in Abu Dhabi, having previously lifted the trophy in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

 

“I’m happy to win the title here in Abu Dhabi again,” the No. 2 seed added. “I tried hard every year (to win), but I feel that I arrived in very good shape this year.

 

“I am playing well now. I work to be better than what I was two, three, five months ago. I want to improve my level all the time. I don’t think about what happened [in previous years]; I think about what happened yesterday to improve today. That’s my philosophy. I feel good now. I feel ready for the competition.”

 

Milos Raonic of Canada returns the ball to Spain’s Rafael Nadal during their final match of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 02 January 2016. EPA/ALI HAIDER

“It’s been phenomenal,” Raonic agreed. “It’s been a premium way to set up 2016. You get three great matches against great players (Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, and Kevin Anderson) and it gives you a lot to build off–a lot of insight. Hopefully things will keep going well through the first month of the year.”

 

It was a productive day for Spaniards, as Ferrer preceded Nadal’s victory by securing third place in the six-man field with a 6-7(1), 6-4, 10-8 victory over Wawrinka in a showdown between the two semifinal losers.

 

Wawrinka seemed to be in control of the match most of the way, but he struggled when playing from ahead. The fourth-ranked Swiss dropped the second set after taking the first and he could not seal the deal despite leading 5-0 in the super-tiebreaker. Ferrer took 10 of the last 13 points to steal the win from his opponent’s grasp after one hour and 28 minutes of competition.

 

Ferrer and Nadal will officially begin their seasons this upcoming week in Doha, while Wawrinka heads to Chennai as the two-time defending champion of that 250-point tournament.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

 

Spain’s Rafael Nadal (L) poses with his trophy next to Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan (C), head of the UAE Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Social Development, after defeating Milos Raonic (R) of Canada in their final match of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 02 January 2016. EPA/ALI HAIDER

 

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