By Chris Oddo | Sunday August 12, 2018
It started as a laugher and ended as a cliffhanger but in the end it was Rafael Nadal for the win in Toronto.
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The Spaniard ended the magical run of birthday boy Stefanos Tsitsipas, earning a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory for his fourth Rogers Cup title and 33rd at the Masters 1000 level.
The Spaniard also becomes the fourth player in ATP history to earn 80 or more titles with the win, joining Jimmy Connors (109), Roger Federer (98) and Ivan Lendl (94).
Nadal was dominant from the start and rolled through the first set, converting back-to-back breaks in the middle of the set and dropping just one point on serve in the stanza to take it 6-2.
The second set appeared to be playing out in the same fashion as the first as Nadal broke in the first game and was unrelenting on serve through his first four service games.
When he took the balls to serve for the match at 5-4 he had dropped just three service points in the match, but Tsitsipas, ever opportunistic, took advantage of some nervous play from Nadal to convert his second break point of the game.
That brought the crowd to life and it gave the 20-year-old Greek the extra energy he needed to hold serve and ensure that at the very least he’d be able to take his chances in a tiebreak.
It very nearly didn’t come to that as Tsitsipas earned a set point with Nadal serving at 5-6, the Spaniard barely wiggling out of trouble as his drop volley at the end of a long rally clipped the tape and rolled over for a winner.
In the tiebreaker Tsitsipas played well early, taking a 3-2 lead but Nadal dug down deep and surged to the finish line by winning five of the final six points to clinch his victory in one hour and 41 minutes.
The emphatic celebration that followed was an indication of how appreciative Nadal was of this victory. He wins his first hardcourt title at the Masters 1000 level since 2013 and heads into the meat of the summer hardcourt swing with confidence as he prepares his U.S. Open title defense.
Tsitsipas, meanwhile, had his disappointment alleviated when a supportive crowd sang happy birthday to him as he accepted his runner-up trophy.
He fell short in the final but became the youngest player to defeat four Top 10 players at the same event since the ATP began recording such stats in the 1990. He defeated this year’s Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic, before saving match points to defeat defending champion Alexander Zverev and this year’s Wimbledon runner-up Kevin Anderson. The future is well and truly bright for the Greek sensation, who will climb to a career-high ranking of 15 in the world in Monday’s ATP ranking.
As for Nadal, he’ll stay at No.1 and be inserted as a consensus favorite to win a fourth U.S. Open title come September. His fantastic form continues unabated, and he hasn’t even hit his full sprint yet.