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February 27, 2005
Nadal breezes past Montanes to win Mexican OpenAP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) Rafael Nadal mixed blistering groundstrokes with a soft touch around the net to sweep past fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes, 6-1, 6-0, and win the Mexican Open on Saturday.
The 18-year-old lefty was aggressive from the start, keeping Montanes off-balance by alternating between power and soft pushes that floated but landed loaded with top spin.
Montanes looked intimidated early and tired from then on. He double-faulted in the first set's second game to let Nadal break his serve.
Montanes went on to take just 14 points in the first set, and two of those came on four straight double-faults by Nadal, who also had five aces.
The second set was even more lopsided, with Nadal winning all but eight points and taking the title in just 52 minutes. Nadal won all five of his matches in this Pacific Coast resort city without losing a set.
"I didn't expect to win so easily, I didn't expect it to be 6-0 at the end," said Nadal, who classified his performance as "dominating."
"I was playing well from the beginning and things went well," he said.
It was the second tournament victory in as many weeks for the teenager, who won the Brazilian Open on Feb. 19.
Montanes said simply keeping the ball in play against Nadal was his toughest task.
"I didn't play badly, I played well and arrived at the final in good shape," Montanes said. "But he was playing at a super-high level. He's gotten a lot stronger and has great confidence in himself."
The championship for Acapulco's WTA tournament will pit top-seeded Flavia Pennetta against Slovakian Ludmila Cervanova on Sunday.
It's the second consecutive Mexican Open championship game for Pennetta, who got there by breezing past fellow Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti, 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday. Cervanova upset fifth-seeded Madagascan Dally Randriantefy 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Pennetta fell in last year's final to Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic. This year she's made a better start, winning in Bogota last weekend for her second career title.
She overpowered Serra Zanetti in 68 minutes, and showed no sign of leg problems that slowed her in Friday's quarterfinal victory over Lilia Osterloh.
"I was more concentrated and making fewer mistakes than yesterday and the game started off very well," Pennetta said. Randriantefy led Cervanova by a set and 6-5 but lost control when the Slovakian broke Randriantefy to win the second set. "She just hit the ball and didn't make any mistakes and I knew I had to pressure, but I missed a lot of balls and couldn't keep the ball in," Cervanova said of the first set. "The second set I started to play better and better."
Cervanova jumped to a 2-0 lead in the third, and cruised to her first WTA Tour final since Casablanca 10 months ago. She has yet to win a title. --
This article originally appeared online at: http://cbs.sportsline.com/tennis/story/8233671
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***This article was originally published by the sources above and is copyrighted by them. Real Acapulco offers it on our website for educational purposes in accordance with the 'fair use' of copyrighted material as indicated in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
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