World Number one Rafael Nadal played the finals at Mubdala World Tennis Championship against the rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas. It was an exhibition match which turned out to be intense and Rafa won  6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(3) against the Greek gun. 

In the opening set, Tsitsipas saved two set points. He converted his eighth break point of the match and broke back Nadal at 5-5. The Greek lad Tsitsipas pulled off the first set against Nadal 7-6(3) by playing some incredible tennis the tiebreak. In the second set, he got a warning for smashing his tennis racquet on the tennis court.

Raquet Smashing

World Number one Rafael Nadal broke in the last game of the second set and sealed it 7-5. He smacked a volley that left Stefanos Tsitsipas dumbstruck. Tsitsipas was playing some unreal tennis and his perfect lob shot, while Rafa was on the net, dropped jaws in the house.

The match dealt with unnecessary delays that took place due to Tsitsipas’ usual shoelace related issues. 

Final Set

In the final set, Tsitsipas was trailing by a break at 4-2. Later he came back to settle the scoreline at 4-4. By then the match was about to sail into the third hour of play. Also, he tried to hit a smash on Rafa.

The match sailed into the final set tiebreak with the two men putting up the show with some insane level of tennis. Rafa led by 4-1 in the tiebreak and later sealed the match 7-6(3).

Their previous meeting

The duo Stefanos Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal previous met on the courts ATP Finals 2019 in London, UK. There they played their third match of the tournament against each other and both the ATP men tussled playing three arduous sets. Nadal defeated Tsitsipas in London but the Spaniard could qualify for the semifinals despite winning two matches in the round-robin.

Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Roger Federer in the semifinals and Dominic Thiem in the finals to lift the biggest title of his career on the English hardcourt.