Fourth seed Rafael Nadal routed Milos Raonic by 6-2, 6-2 in just 68 minutes to capture the ATP Montreal Masters at Canada on Sunday.
In fact, the Spaniard is planning to carry on next week to the final major tune-up before the US Open, which is the combined ATP-WTA Cincinnati event.
Nadal, who became the first Canadian to be ranked in the apex 10 on the ATP Tour commented that they will see tomorrow. He was able to recover well and felt good physically today. To be precise, Nadal won his 25th Masters 1000 title and won his eighth trophy of the season to score his career title total to 58. Nadal is all set to head for another title in Cincinnati which commenced on Sunday. Apparently, he was smooth on the court on Sunday. He did not give any indication that his chronic knee problems are his current worry. He clarified that his focus is on Montreal and he will not be thinking beyond the 26th August start of the US Open in New York. Nadal admitted that the victories and the losses don't affect the way that he prepares or the manner that he works for things. When he will be in New York, he will work on thinking about the US Open. He added that he always proceeds tournament by tournament. He did very well in this week on the hardcourts. He is happy with that. He needs to keep going this way.
To the knowledge of everyone, Nadal remains undefeated in this season on the hardcourts after winning the Indian Wells title in March. In addition, he won at Canada in 2005 and 2008. Unfortunately, Raonic, who was held to just four aces in the final, failed to become the first Canadian to win the title since 1958.
Raonic, who has broken new ground all week in the sport for Canada rued that Rafa really gave him a clinic today. He added that this was the most crucial moment of his career so far. He was happy he could have it here in Canada.
Notably, Nadal stands at 48-3 this year as well as reached the final in 10 of 11 events he has entered. Remarkably, Nadal displayed no fragileness on Sunday as he broke Raonic twice in the opening set. Further, he broke on a double-fault to begin the second and claimed his fourth Masters title of the season following Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome. Truly, it was a dominating victory in which the Canadian's serve was nullified by precision returns from Nadal.
Nadal, who lost only one point in the opening set on serve agreed that this was an amazing victory for him. He knew that his serve would be very important and he felt consistent. His returns were also unbelievable. He played an incredible match against a tough rival. He just had a few more mistakes today than usual.
Subsequently, Nadal will move back to 3rd place on the ATP world rankings on Monday. Raonic slipped into No. 10.
