Nadal wins historic 10th Monte Carlo title

He surpassed Argentinian, Guillermo Vilas, with his 50th title today. “He’s a player that is playing unbelievably well during the whole season”, Nadal said of Goffin. “To win 10 times in such an important event like Monte Carlo is something hard to describe”. The first photo, of him raising the trophy in 2005 as a distinctly shy 18-year-old who was taking tennis by storm, made Nadal laugh.

“I know Pouille, he’s a young player coming very strong”. “Winning here is an important step forward for me”.

Goffin’s reward for beating Djokovic is a match against nine-time Monte Carlo victor Rafael Nadal.

The victory means Nadal stayed on course for a record-extending 10th Monte Carlo Masters title. “That’s what happened since the beginning of the season”. I’m happy to pass him over. If I am healthy and I feel myself competitive, I am happy. In the finals, that is to be played on Sunday, he will be facing Albert Ramos-Vinolas who went on to win his respective semifinal match, after defeating Lucas Pouille.

It was Nadal’s first title in nearly a year and further cemented his place in history as he became the first man in the Open era to win the same event 10 times.

He won his first title last summer in Bastad and had since reached two more final, most recently in Sao Paulo this spring.

Nadal immediately claimed a second successive break and with a 5-1 lead suffered his first test and Ramos-Vinolas moved 0-30 in front, but Nadal reeled off four straight points to stave off the threat and seal the set. Nadal’s celebrations were somewhat muted, and he gave Ramos-Vinolas a sympathetic pat on the back at the net.

Orantes’ best year on the ATP circuit was in 1975, when he swept eight titles, all of which came on clay, including at the Monte Carlo Masters and the US Open.

“(This title) arrives in just the right moment, I believe”, Nadal said. I think that he was a little bit better in everything.

That makes for a short-priced favourite – look out for firms offering only a third of the odds in their each-way terms – but, in contrast, this week’s other ATP World Tour event in Hungary looks wide open.

“The real thing is since the first time I came here in 2003, I have had very positive feelings”. It’s unbelievable news for me.

Roland Garros and the 2017 French Open await Nadal in a month’s time, but before then, this week’s Barcelona Open could provide the ideal warm-up to flawless his craft further on his favourite surface.

Earlier, claycourt specialist Ramos, who beat world number one Andy Murray and fifth seed Marin Cilic en route to the semi-finals, survived the loss of the second set to down the 11th-seeded Pouille. The last time that he was ranked anything but first or second was way back in the March 7th, 2011 rankings. Ramos-Vinolas hit just 9 winners and also 25 errors and with these numbers he couldn’t hope for a better result against the king of this event. “I lost my momentum a bit”.