Rafael Nadal continued his amazing run this season with his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title this 2013 alone, increasing his haul to 26 career Masters titles. The victory also extended the Spaniard’s hardcourt win streak to 15-0 which saw win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last March, the Rogers Cup in Montreal last weekend and the Cincinnati Masters on Sunday.
Nadal joined Novak Djokovic as the only two players to have won five Masters 1000 titles in a single season. Nadal can break that tie as there are still two more Masters event in the Calendar – the Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters.
By virtue of winning the Cincinnati Masters, Nadal also rose in the rankings to number 2 in the world. If 2013 ranking points are to be based alone, Nadal tops the list and could very well be a strong contender in finishing the season as world number one.
Nadal pocketed $583,800 for winning Cincinnati while John Isner, the runner up, went home with $286,240.
“It means a lot, being able to win two straight titles, two Masters 1000 on hard back to back is just amazing for me,” Nadal said. “I never did something like this in all my career. So it was an emotional moment for so many different facts. First of all, I won a very important tournament, Masters 1000. Second thing, after all the problems that I had, I mean, it was just two weeks in a row on hard playing at the highest level. Then the ranking is there. I was playing for a lot of points this week. And I’m in a good position.”
