Nadal lifts his first title of 2022 in Melbourne

MADRID, 9 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal has conquered the title of the Melbourne tournament (Australia), ATP 250 category and preparatory for the Australian Open, after beating the American Maxime Cressy (7-6 (6), 6 in the final this Sunday -3), who offered battle but could not prevent the Spaniard from raising his 89th trophy on the ATP circuit.

In this way, the number six in the world has 19 consecutive seasons winning at least one title, all after five months of absence to recover from a foot injury that deprived him of participating in the Olympic Games and after having overcome the coronavirus .

However, the one from Manacor had to sweat at the Rod Laver Arena, where from January 17 the oceanic ‘Grand Slam’ will be played, to defeat a Cressy who survived the five balls of ‘break’ of the Spanish during the first set and the tiebreak forced the dispute. In it, Nadal was more solvent and managed to win the partial.

In the second heat, after an exchange of breaks before the equator, the former world number one won the last three games to close the 125th final of his career in one hour and three quarters.

In his week back, Nadal has added four games (one doubles and three singles) and around seven hours of play, a good test to face the Australian Open, where he aspires to his first title since 2009 and to conquer his 21st ‘big ‘, which would make him the player with the most titles in history in the category.

With this title, the Mallorcan is the fourth player with the most men’s individual titles (89) of the Open Era, only behind Ivan Lendl (94), Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors (109).