Rafael Nadal and Caroline Garcia Claim China Open Singles Titles
Rafael Nadal
(October 8, 2017) Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1, while Caroline Garcia beat as-of-Monday No. 1 Simona Halep 6-4, 7-6(3) to win the singles titles at the China Open in Beijing on Sunday.
For the world No. 1 Nadal, it’s his sixth title of the year, his 75th of his career. He leads the men’s tennis tour with this season with six titles. Nadal sits just two titles away from fourth place on the all-time Open Era list behind John McEnroe.
Fifteenth seed Caroline Garcia won her second straight title, as she won last week’s Wuhan event. Although Halep lost in the final, she’ll reach No. 1 in the world on Monday, the first Romanian woman to accomplish the feat.
“She played amazing tennis,” Halep said of the winner from Spain. “She was better.”
Caroline Garcia
This was Nadal’s second China Open title. The Spaniard last won the crown in 2005. The Spaniard’s victory marks the 12th time a player has won an ATP World Tour title after saving match point(s) this year. He fought off two against Lucas Pouille in the first-round.
“It is an important title for me,” Nadal said. “The last year that I had the trophy with me was in 2005. I had very tough draw here. When I saw the draw at the beginning of the tournament, I knew that it will be very, very difficult to have good chances here. But I was lucky the first day saving the two match points. After that, I think I played one of the best events of the year, playing very solid the whole week and playing against very tough opponents.”
“I put in a pretty good week,” said Kyrgios. “Had some good wins. It’s tough to find positives when you won three games in the final. But I guess there were positives. In the semi-final I played well, obviously beating Alex [Zverev].”
David Goffin
In addition to action in Beijing, David Goffin captured his first ATP World Tour 500 title in Tokyo, beating Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5, adding to the ATP World Tour title he won last week at the Shenzhen Open. The win puts the Belgian at No. 8 in the race to qualify for the ATP World Tour finals in London.
“It’s a really special trophy for me, as I won the tournament last week and now have again today,” Goffin said. “It’s a special feeling at a tournament I like. I have a lot of happy memories in Tokyo. It’s difficult to describe my feelings.
“It’s important for me to stay fresh physically and mentally… I am ready fight and I want to keep winning.”