Melbourne Summer Set—Melbourne, Australia
No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal won his 89th career title on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, dispatching American Maxime Cressy 7-6(6), 6-3. The Spaniard had not played an official ATP Tour event since Washington, D.C. last Summer because of a foot injury.
Overcoming a tight first set to solidify his victory, Nadal hit nine aces and broke serve on two occasions. Never facing his opponent on Tour, Nadal had to quickly adapt to the serve-and-volley style of the American.
Cressy, who will be ranked No. 75 in the world on Monday, ventured into the net 41 times. Standing at 6’6″ tall, Cressy upended Grigor Dimitrov and Reilly Opelka earlier in the event.
Nadal is currently ranked No. 6 in the world and will next see action at the Australian Open next week.
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Adelaide International 1—Adelaide, Australia
Top seed Gael Monfils defeated No. 2 seed Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to capture his 11th career title in Adelaide, Australia. Needing one hour and 19 minutes to seal his victory, Monfils struck six aces, won 81 percent of his first serve points and broke his Russian opponent on two occasions.
Never losing his serve, Monfils improved to 1-0 against Khachanov in lifetime meetings. Monfils will move up four places in the rankings to No. 17 on Monday.
Khachanov, who was in search of his fifth career title, fell to 4-6 in championship matches.
