Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov lead Canada to ATP Cup final victory over Spain in Sydney; Gael Monfils defeats Karen Khachanov in the Adelaide International final to claim his 11th tour title
Sunday 9 January 2022 13:05, UK
Rafael Nadal warmed up for the Australian Open by clinching the Melbourne Summer Set title with a straight-sets victory over American qualifier Maxime Cressy.
The 35-year-old Spaniard, playing in his first tournament since August 2021, triumphed 7-6 (6) 6-3 in Sunday's final.
Nadal's trip to Australia had been in doubt due to a lingering foot injury and a recent bout of coronavirus.
But, having already dispatched Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis and Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori this week, he showed little signs of rustiness and collected the 89th trophy of his illustrious career with victory in an hour and 44 minutes.
"I'm coming back from some challenging moments and injuries, so it means a lot to be here," the 20-time Grand Slam champion said, before praising his opponent.
ATP Tour final debutant Cressy made his high-profile opponent work for the win, saving five break points in a close-run first set and also being denied a set point in the tie break.
With the start of the first grand slam of 2022 just eight days away, Nadal - Australian Open champion in 2009 - was then forced to recover from being broken in the third game of the second set to claim silverware.
Glory for the world number six maintains his run of clinching at least one tour-level title every year since 2004.
Canada won the ATP Cup with victory over Spain.
Felix Auger-Aliassime clinched the title in Sydney with a 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory against Roberto Bautista Agut to give his country an insurmountable 2-0 lead.
Canada, who overcame Great Britain in the group stage of the competition and beat defending champions Russia in the semi-finals, led 1-0 thanks to Denis Shapovalov's 6-4 6-3 success over Pablo Carreno Busta.
"The emotions are unbelievable. There's no better feeling than winning. We left everything out there," said Auger-Aliassime.
"We came back from far in this competition, losing our first four matches. But we never stopped believing.
"I think that's very important. We trust each other to the highest level... it came down to the perfect result. I'm super thrilled for everybody in the whole team and myself, of course."
Beaten finalists Spain were also runners-up in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2020, when their team contained 20-time grand slam winner Nadal.
In the Adelaide International, French top seed Gael Monfils defeated second-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4 6-4 for his 11th tour title.
Former world number six Monfils did not drop a set all week in Adelaide and the 35-year-old could not have hoped for a better build-up to the Australian Open.
Monfils, who was reduced to tears when he exited the Australian Open in the first round last year, was happy with his consistency in Adelaide.
"I think I played very solid all these matches, was moving well," he said, adding that the pandemic hit him "quite bad".
"For me, it's a key, always to move good, then I can be more aggressive, use more my forehand, use more my serve.
"The goal is to keep all this confidence, bring into next week. Not starting tomorrow, but next week, to be ready to try to compete for big AO."
