Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the world No. 5, defeated countryman David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in the final of the Mexican Open.
The 26-year-old Nadal, who has now won 52 titles in his career and two titles on the clay in Acapulco, needed just 65 minutes to beat the 30-year-old Ferrer, who is ranked No. 4 in the world.
Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam champion, was competing in his third straight final since starting his comeback from a knee injury at last month’s VTR Open in Viña del Mar, Chile.
The Spaniard lost in the Viña del Mar final to Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos, but bounced back a week later to win another Latin American clay-court event in Sao Paulo.
Recent reports in the Spanish press said the tennis star might skip the season’s first ATP Masters events, but Nadal said after Saturday’s final that he was ready to hit the hard courts.
The Spanish star said the event in Indian Wells, California, was one of his favorites.
“I love it and I look forward to competing, the knee responded well this week and let’s hope that everything continues on the same path on the hard courts. I have to listen to my heart and it’s telling me to keep competing, that I need to go to the next tournament and that’s what I’m going to do, and that’s what I feel,” Nadal said.
The March 4-17 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, is one of the tennis season’s nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, which rank only below the four Grand Slam tournaments and the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in terms of ranking points and prestige.
Italy’s Sara Errani, meanwhile, won the women’s title, defeating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-4.
The team of Spain’s David Marrero and Poland’s Lukasz Kubot took the men’s doubles title, defeating the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-2.
In women’s doubles action, Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Arantxa Parra Santonja won the women’s doubles title over the Colombian duo of Catalina Castaño and Mariana Duque 6-4, 7-6.
