Spanish maverick Rafael Nadal took another emphatic step towards proving himself as more than just a clay court player when he overcame a one-set deficit to defeat Guillermo Coria of Argentina 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in the 2005 China Open final in Beijing on Sunday.
This is the second hard court title for the big hitter from Mallorca, who lost in the third round of the US Open last month.
"I am very happy about the victory here," said Nadal. "I am confident that I can play very well on the hard court."
Trailing 6-5 in the first set after having been broken twice, Nadal failed to save a set point as he backhanded the ball out of bounds.
The French Open champion, who started the year with a humble 51st ranking No. 2, launched a devastating comeback in the second set, leaving Coria little chance of taking control again. Nadal wrapped up the game in one hour and 37 minutes.
With the trophy, Nadal increased his titles won this season to ten and career singles wins to 11. He won 72 matches in 2005, the best in the tour this season, surpassing even world No. 1 Swiss maestro Roger Federer's 71 wins.
In other finals results, American Justin Gimelstob defended his doubles title teamed up with Australian Nathan Healey. They brushed aside Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the doubles title under the new doubles format, which was tested in this tournament.
Also on Sunday, ATP CEO Mark Miles, who actively promoted tennis all over the world during his 15 years in office, said that ATP regards China as the most important possible growth market for the sport, which will not change after he retires.
China's importance can be seen in the inauguration of a Shanghai Masters Cup in 2002, and the fact that Beijing signed an agreement with ATP last year to host the US$500,000 China Open for a period of 10 years.
"One of our objectives is to have the right events at the right levels in the right countries to make tennis a truly global sport.
"We have a couple of tournaments now in South America which had nothing fifteen years ago in terms of tennis. We've also started in the Middle East. And now obviously our focus is on China."
Miles also paid tribute to the organizers of the China Open.
"I had a great sense of how much has been accomplished in only two years," he said.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)
