World number one Rafael Nadal won the inaugural Rio Open 2014 title on Sunday after the Spaniard defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 just a day after saving two match points to make it this far in the tournament.
The title win means Nadal has won his 62nd career title and is now tied in seventh for the most number of titles in the Open Era with Guillermo Vilas. The win in the Brazilian city earned Nadal 500 rankign points and $316,400 in prize money.
“Always when you win a title, it’s special,” said Nadal. “In a 500 tournament, you don’t have a chance to play a lot of these in the calendar. The first edition of a big tournament like Rio, it’s a very important city in the world, and after coming back from injury, it always makes the victory a little more special.”
Nadal celebrated the victory with Brazilian sporting legends such as Ronaldo and Gustavo Kuerten.
Nadal was on the verge of making a semifinal exit on Saturday after he was down two match points against compatriot Pablo Andujar. However, he recovered just in time to erase the deficit and win the match in a third set tiebreaker.
“Yesterday was a tough match,” said Nadal. “Pablo played a great match, playing very aggressive. I played too short yesterday and I gave him the chance to have control of the point from inside.
“I’m not very happy with the way I played yesterday, but I think today I was able to play with a little bit more calm, play a little bit longer and go a little bit more for the points. I played a more solid match today.”
Nadal has won his second title of the 2014 season and is now 16-1, the only loss coming from an Australian Open final defeat to Stanislas Wawrinka. Nadal won the Qatar Open earlier last month.
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah won the doubles title after defeating second seeds David Marrero and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
