Nadal rallies to beat Zverev for eighth Rome title

Rafael Nadal will regain the world No. 1 ranking after Alexander Zverev 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Sunday.

Nadal rallied to beat the reigning champion and second-seeded Zverev after a rain delay paused play with Nadal trailing 3-1 in the third set. It’s Nadal’s eighth time winning the event and sends him into Roland Garros for the French Open next week on a hot streak.

“It has been an amazing week,” said Nadal, per the ATP’s site. “Such an important week to have this trophy with me again after losing in the quarter-finals in Madrid. It was unforgettable and emotional for me. It’s amazing to win eight titles in Rome. It’s a difficult event and to have the chance to win again here means a lot. This is the moment to enjoy winning here again.”

The top-seeded Nadal opened the match with a blistering first set that he wrapped up in 33 minutes, but his German opponent became more aggressive in the second set and had Nadal reeling.

The third set opened in much the same fashion before the hour-long rain delay gave Nadal time to refocus.

Nadal returned from the delay to win five straight games and end the match emphatically on his own serve after two hours and nine minutes.

“When it happened, the rain delay, I didn’t feel in that moment that it would help me,” said Nadal. “That’s my feeling. It’s true that, if we analyze it now, of course, we can say that the rain delay helped me. But really, in my opinion, what helped me is that I came back with a clear idea in terms of tactical issues and in terms of decisions that I took after that break.”

Zverev lamented the missed opportunity.

“There’s nothing I can do about (the rain),” Zverev said. “Next time, I have to find a way to come out better after the rain and play better tennis. He came out way faster and played much more aggressive than I did.

“And, you know, with the fatigue I had it took me a very long time to get activated again and to get going. Obviously, it wasn’t enough time. It just changed momentum. And Rafa is somebody that if you’re not in the match and if you’re not feeling the ball well, you have no chance.”

The win was Nadal’s 357th at the Masters 1000 level, moving him two past Switzerland’s Roger Federer (355) for the most victories at the level in history. Nadal ceded the world No. 1 ranking to Federer when he fell at Madrid last week, but will regain it when the new rankings are released on Monday.

With his 78th title, Nadal passes John McEnroe for fourth-most in the Open Era. The Spaniard still trails Jimmy Connors (109), Federer (97) and Ivan Lendl (94).

Zverev, who leads all players with 30 match wins in 2018, was riding a 13-match winning streak into the final after beating fourth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6 (13), 7-5 in Saturday’s semifinals.

Nadal improves to a perfect 5-0 record against Zverev.

–Field Level Media