Rafael Nadal opened his 2017 campaign on a strong start, beating Belgium's David Goffin 6-4, 7-6 to win his fourth Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Nadal, who defeated Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and Milos Raonic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the semis, engaged in a see-saw battle with Goffin throughout the match. Neither men had a break until the 10th game of the opening set. In the second set, Goffin and Nadal exchanged breaks twice. Goffin had a chance to level the score at 6-6 but Nadal persevered in the end to book the victory.
"The only break of the first set came at the most crucial time when Goffin was serving at 4-5, but the second set proved a far more topsy-turvy battle. Breaks were twice exchanged, before Goffin created four chances to break for 6-5, only for the typically scrappy Nadal to hold.
After a Goffin hold, the set - and ultimately the match - was decided by a tie-break, with Nadal prevailing 7-5 to clinch his fourth Mubadala title."
Nadal has now bagged four Mubadala World Tennis Championships out of five finals appearances. The Spaniard also won the 2010, 2011 and 2016 edition (January) of the tournament. Meanwhile, Goffin capped a spirited run that saw him stunning Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 6-4 and Sir Andy Murray 7-6, 6-4.
Rafa Faces Tough Road
After his triumphant campaign in Abu Dhabi, Nadal will be facing a much tougher competition at the Brisbane International, where he's expected to face Raonic in the quarterfinal round. The draw results came after Marc Lopez withdrew from the competition due to unspecified injury.
"Those are two great wins by Rafa coming out of his pre-season and it will have him feeling good about his tournaments in Australia,'' Brisbane tournament Geoff Quinlan said in an interview via News.com.au. "Marc Lopez had to pull out and Rafa is not playing doubles here now.''
Seeded no.5 Nadal is drawn in the top-half of the draw and will face Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the first round and potentially Mischa Zverev, the brother of NextGen star Alexander Zverev Jr., in the second.
Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori were seeded no.2 and no.3 respectively while Dominic Thiem were seeded no.4.