Rafael Nadal and Juan Monaco fell short in their bid to win the VTR Open doubles title on Sunday, losing to Paolo Lorenzi and Potito Starace of Italy. The Italians triumphed in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
The duo won $22,500 plus 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points.
“I’m really happy because Potito and I are very good friends,” said Lorenzi.
“It was a great victory for us against Monaco and Nadal. We hope to play in another tournament again as soon as possible,” he added.
It seemed like Nadal and Monaco were headed to win this event, having won their earlier matches in straight sets and also having defeated second-seeded Lukas Dlouhy and Frantisek Cermak of Czech Republic.
Nadal also lost his singles title bid earlier in the day, having lost the final to Horacio Zeballos in three tight sets.
