A great start of the season for Rafael Nadal that wins his 61st title in Doha.
The world no.1 wasn’t at his very best during this week to have conceded 3 sets during the tournament to low rank players, but that was clearly enough.
Rafa had a very smooth start in the final to grab an early 5-0 lead and wrap up the opening set 6-1. Then Gael managed to storm back in the second set to get an early 3-0 lead, but Rafa was able to even the score and bring the set to the breaker (won by Monfils at 5).
In the third set there was no match. The Frenchman disappeared and Rafa didn’t miss the chance to break Gael twice and win the set 6-2. Match Stats.
Rafa: It’s the first time I win my first tournament of the season
Nadal was rather happy by the result to comment “Every victory is important and the title today means a lot to me. It is the first time in my career that I am able to start the season with a victory. That’s always important.”
Monfils: Rafa is still Rafa
Also Gael was overall happy by his tournament to comment “At the end, it’s still Rafa. Rafa is strong, hitting hard the ball. It’s always tough to play against him and at the end he was a bit better than me today…I will still work hard and I will be confident the first day in Australia.”
With this win Rafa will further widen his gap in the rankings with Djokovic that has not played any tournament this week.
