Nadal claims his 66th ATP Title

Rafa Nadal defeated Serbian Viktor Troicki 7-6 6-3 in today’s Stuttgart Open final. Nadal hit 11 aces in his victory over the Serb and now has four titles on grass. It was Nadal’s first grass court title since Wimbledon 2010 and his 66th ATP title in all. The world number 10, who was the top seed here won a closely fought first set in tiebreaker and then made light work of his Serbian opponent with top notch hitting. Playing with confidence against the eighth-seeded Troicki, Nadal converted his first opportunity to go 3-1 up in the second set and he served out the win in 1 hour 27 minutes. The 14-time Grand Slam winner maintained his unbeaten record against Troicki with his fifth win over the 28th-ranked Serb. He also becomes the first man to win an event on two different surfaces.

“I’m really, really happy. It’s my second win this year and it gives me a lot of confidence,” said Nadal. He will now aim at replicating his performance of 2008 and 2010 when he won Wimbledon. A good start to the campaign for the Spaniard, after having slipped down to 10 in ATP Rankings, he is now scheduled to play at Queen’s – he has been drawn against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round – before Wimbledon begins on 29 June.