Rafa Nadal has won his first grasscourt tournament since Wimbledon 2010 with a 7-6 6-3 win over Victor Troicki in the Mercedes Cup final.
Neither player was able to make much headway against the other in the opening set. Troicki’s serving was almost untouchable – indeed, he lost just four points on his first serve in the entire match – and Nadal failed to earn a single break point in the opening set, though he did save one on his own serve against the eighth seed.
In the tie-break, however, the Spanish top seed turned on the style, dropping just three points as he took hold of the match.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with just one break point opportunity. That was all Nadal needed: he pounced and then served out the match.
It was only his second title of a disappointing year and Nadal looked delighted with his form after his early French Open exit.
“Since 2011, I didn’t play a final on grass, so finally to win a title again after five years on grass is very good news for my game, for my mentality too and at the same time is another title,” said Nadal, who now has 66 career titles.
“At this point of the season for me, every victory is important, every title means a lot to me. This is not confidence for Wimbledon, this is an important victory for me and I’m happy for that today.”
The win will be a big confidence boost for Nadal ahead of this year’s Wimbledon, having dropped to 10th in the ATP rankings after a difficult year