ATPtennis.com
August 15, 2024

No. 6 seed Rafael Nadal saved his best tennis for last this week, hitting peak form for Sunday�s final against 2002 Idea Prokom Open champion Jose Acasuso.

Despite playing two singles matches and a doubles match on Saturday, Nadal showed no sign of fatigue in Sunday�s championship match. The 18-year-old�s power and speed was too much to handle for Acasuso, as the Spaniard eased to a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Nadal claims his first career ATP title and is now 1-1 lifetime in ATP finals. The Spaniard handed Acasuso his first defeat in Sopot. Nonetheless, Acasuso is still an impressive 9-1 at this event.

At 18 years, 2 months, Nadal becomes the youngest player to claim an ATP title since Lleyton Hewitt did so at the same age in Delray Beach in 1999.

Ironically, the last teenager to win an ATP title was Jose Acasuso at the Idea Prokom Open in 2002.

Nadal, behind Tommy Robredo in 2001, is the second Spaniard to win in Sopot. En route to the title, Nadal defeated Victory Hanescu, Arnaud Di Pasquale, Franco Squillari, Felix Mantilla and Acasuso in the final.

The Spaniard, who was in 50 th place of the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race at the beginning of the week, adds 35 INDESIT ATP 2004 Race points to his tally, as well as � 68,500.

Acasuso is now 1-4 in ATP finals, with his only title to date coming in Sopot in 2002.

CERMAK/FRIEDL CLAIM FIFTH CAREER DOUBLES TITLE

No.1 seeds Leos Friedl and Frantisek Cermak claimed their fifth career doubles title Sunday, defeating Sebastian Prieto and Adrian Garcia 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Friedl and Cermak are now 2-2 in ATP finals in 2004.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:

Nadal: " I�m very happy. I needed a tournament win like this after my injury, I just hope that it�s not the last one. After this tournament, I�ll be in the top 50. To see me in 70 th place after being 30 th before my injury, it wasn�t easy. After my injury, my goals for the year aren�t quite as high but if I can finish around 30 th, then it will have been a good season for me.

"It was a tough match. It was very equal in the first set until I broke at 4-3 and then he seemed to fall off a little. I was very focused all match and had high hopes of winning, and in the end I won it so I�m very happy."

On Athens next: "I leave to Athens tonight and play doubles tomorrow. Of course, I�ll be tired after this but it�s only a doubles match so hopefully it won�t affect me too much."

Acasuso: "Although I lost today, I�m still very happy as I wasn�t playing well coming into this tournament and I got to the final so this gives me a lot of hope and confidence for the future.

"I think the key of the match was when I didn�t break back at 1-0 in the second set. I had a few break points and missed one shot badly. Maybe it would have been different if I had won that game, who knows."

On Nadal: "Well he�s a great player. He�s only just starting out and is still very young but he�ll be among the world�s best players in the future."

Friedl: "It�s been a great week, it always is when you win a tournament. This is our fifth title together so it feels great. I had problems with my back earlier in the week but it feels better now. Frantisek played unbelievable tennis all week and I served well today."

Cermak: "Well it was a tough match as we expected. We didn�t play well in the first set but the we got much better for the rest of the match. We were confident and it feels great to win."