Nadal wins first grasscourt title in five years
Top-seed beats Troicki to win his third Stuttgart Open in the first year the tournament switched from clay to grass.
Rafael Nadal defeated Viktor Troicki 7-6, 6-3 to win the Mercedes Cup for the third time and claim his first title on grass since Wimbledon in 2010.
The top-seeded Spaniard, who had no aces in his semi-final win over Gael Monfils, ended the first set tiebreaker with an ace – his ninth.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 items- list 1 of 4Alcaraz beats Shelton to win Paris Masters, avenges US Open loss
- list 2 of 4Tearful Alex Eala loses Hong Kong Open final in search for second WTA title
- list 3 of 4Tennis world number one Rybakina withdraws from WTA Finals due to virus
- list 4 of 4WTA apologises to Pegula for broadcast of ‘diva’ comment about Andreeva
Playing with evident confidence against the eighth-seeded Troicki, Nadal converted his first opportunity to go 3-1 up in the second set and he served out the win in one hour, 27 minutes.
“I’m really, really happy. It’s my second win this year and it gives me a lot of confidence,” said Nadal, after his 66th career victory and fourth on grass.
Nadal was made to work hard against Bernard Tomic and Marcos Baghdatis in the early rounds but improved as the tournament progressed and looks to be in good shape for Wimbledon.
“It was a great week for me.”
The 14-time Grand Slam winner maintained his unbeaten record against Troicki with his fifth win over the 28th-ranked Serb.
Nadal previously won the tournament in 2005 and 2007 when it was still on clay. It made the switch to grass as a Wimbledon tune-up this year.