Nadal Wins Capitala World Tennis Championship: Rafael Nadal got 2010 off to a winning start when he captured the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
The world number two defeated Robin Soderling of Sweden in Saturday’s final, giving the Spaniard revenge of sorts after Soderling ended his run of success in the French Open last spring.
In a hard-fought contest, Nadal took the opening set on a tie-break and went a break up in the second before Soderling hit back to level at 4-4.
The Swede saved three match points in his next service game but was broken again in the 12th game as Nadal wrapped up victory 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.
Earlier, Roger Federer bounced back from a surprise defeat to Soderling with a 6-1 7-5 success against David Ferrer. Federer and Nadal now head to nearby Doha for the official curtain-raiser on the men’s tour with the Australian Open less than three weeks away.