Nadal defeats Tsitsipas in 3 hour drama to win the title in Abu Dhabi

Rafael Nadal defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7, 7-5 and 7-6 at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi to win the title.

It was a highly anticipated matchup between the ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and the world number one Rafael Nadal. In Abu Dhabi, Tsitsipas played 2 matches when he defeated Rublev in the quarterfinal and Djokovic in the semifinal match. Nadal had to play just a one match as he defeated Karen Khachanov in the semifinal.

The first set could be described as a show of missed chances by Tsitsipas. The Greek had 7 break point opportunities in the first 6 games but he did not convert any. And it was Nadal who used his 2nd break point in the 9th to take Tsitsipas' service game. But Tsitsipas fought back as he denied 2 set points and converted his 8th break point to level the score and force the tie-break. There, Tsitsipas dominated when he won it 7-3.

In the second set, we did not see any break points until the 9th game. There, Tsitsipas had 2 opportunities to gain a 5-4 lead, but he failed to do so. Nadal held his service game and broke Tsitsipas' 3 games later to force the 3rd set.

2 chances to earn a lead in the third set were missed by Tsitsipas again and so the players started the set without a break. However, in the 6th and 7th game both players lost their serve's and so the score remained level. After the first set was decided after 66 minutes and the second after 60 minutes, we have seen another set which lasted more than an hour as it was decided in a tie-break. Nadal gained an early advantage in a tie-break by earning a mini-break. He did not lose that during the tie-break and added one more to win it 7-3 and become the champion in Abu Dhabi.

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