Rafael Nadal showed he means business and remains the man to beat on the clay courts, after clinching his first title, on return from a long-term injury, at the Brazil Open.
Nadal eased past Argentine veteran David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-3 in Sao Paulo to clinch his 37th clay court crown. The trophy was Nadal's first since winning the French Open by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final last year.
Nadal had seen his first attempt at a title following his comeback go up in smoke when he lost in the VTR Open final in Chile last week. However, the Spaniard was much more assured this time around, and rarely gave Nalbandian any chance on his way to yet another title - his second in Brazil in only his second appearance.
"It's very nice and important because at the end of your career what's left are the titles, and depending on certain moments there are some titles that you appreciate very much," Nadal said.
"This one I appreciate it the most because of all the struggles I went through during the week, with some problems with my knee some days.
"(It's) true, David didn't play very well, but in general I played my best match of the week. I am very happy, to win in Brazil for the second time, it's wonderful. In 2005 it was the beginning of all these last beautiful years. I hope this will be a re-start."
Nadal now is just eight titles short of equaling Guilermo Vilas' record of 45 clay court crowns, with Thomas Muster currently sitting in second place on 40.
Meanwhile, in the ABN-AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Juan Martin Del Potro was all smiles after defeating Roger Federer's conqueror Julien Benneteau 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the final.
"It's amazing. I'm so happy to win this tournament," Del Potro said. "I played really well from the first round to the final. I think I played the way I needed to, to win this kind of tournament.
"I had been serving well all week, but at the beginning of the match I was nervous and he broke me. Then in the second set I felt confident on my first serve and didn't give him a chance to break me.
"I closed the match with a fantastic service game. He deserved to be in the final. He played a really good match today. He was fighting all the time and I think I did a very good job today."
Benneteau had showed some brilliant form coming into the final, defeating Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, before ousting fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon in the semis. The 31-year-old, however, just could not keep up the intensity of his play in the title round.
"I fought hard to come back in the first set," Benneteau said. "I was always under pressure, I had to save a lot of break points. It's difficult to keep that level of intensity all the time. He did that better than me.
"It was a good match. I was not too tight, I played my game. He was just too strong today. It's disappointing because it's a final, but I did what I could."
In the SAP Open, Milos Raonic defeated Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3 to clinch his third straight title in San Jose.
"It's pretty awesome. It's pretty special," Raonic said. "It's more than just the trophies that I have. It's the little things that come with it. There was always the maple syrup story. The San Jose Sharks jersey. It all means a lot. With this event, that has had so many great champions, it's pretty special. To sort of one-up it and three-peat is pretty awesome."
