BEIJING, Oct. 8 -- Unstoppable world No.1 Rafael Nadal stormed to his sixth title of the season, 75th of career, here on Sunday, defeating Nick Kyrgios of Australia 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the China Open.
It was also the Spaniard's second crown in the Chinese capital, following the previous one in 2005 when he beat Guillermo Coria of Argentina.
"This is a title that last time that I had the trophy with me was in 2005. In 2005 I never will believe that I will keep playing tennis in 2017," Nadal said after the match, "the feeling is probably better this year. First thing, the tournament is bigger than 2005. It's a 500 event. Before it was 250 or 175 at that moment. Every title later in your career is more special than when you were younger."
"I had very tough draw here. When I saw the draw at the beginning of the tournament, I know that will be very, very difficult to have a good chance here. But I was lucky the first day saving that two match points. After that I think I played one of the best events of the year, playing very solid the whole event, playing against very tough opponents," Nadal continued.
Kyrgios won the pair's most recent encounter 6-2, 7-5 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. But Nadal, who defeated the 22-year-old on the clay of Madrid earlier this year, executed his revenge on Sunday.
After losing the first set 6-2, Kyrgios performed impatiently on the court. The young big server fired 20 winners in the 92-minute fight, but was defeated by his 35 unforced errors.
Now sits in 19th position in the world rankings, Kyrgios is still striving for the ATP Finals in London, which is only open to the world top eight players. The second ATP World Tour final of the season in Beijing will boost his chance for the year-end tournament.
"I guess I put in a pretty good week, had some good wins...In the semifinal I played well, obviously beating Alex. It's a typical type of week for me: beat a player well, then pretty much no-show," the Aussie said.