World number two Rafael Nadal overcame a stuttering start before sweeping aside Richard Gasquet in the first match of the Masters Cup showpiece here on Sunday.
SHANGHAI: World number two Rafael Nadal overcame a stuttering start before sweeping aside Richard Gasquet in the first match of the Masters Cup showpiece here on Sunday.
The muscle-bound Mallorcan lost the first set but found his rhythm in the second and third, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and five minutes.
"In the beginning I was a little bit nervous. Matches here are always very difficult because you play against the best," he said.
"So I started the match with a few doubts but later I played more aggressively. It was important to get the break in the beginning of the second set and I finished much better than I started."
Nadal is seeking his first win in the elite eight-man tournament after pulling out injured in 2005 and losing to Roger Federer in last year's semi-finals.
But he paid for a pedestrian opening when Gasquet, in his first Mastes Cup appearance, converted the last of three break points with a pinpoint forehand to go 5-3 up in the first set before serving out.
In a roller-coaster second set, Nadal broke, was broken but then broke again in successive games before clinching it 6-3, pumping his fists in celebration.
As the Spaniard hit his stride, Gasquet fell off the pace and he capitulated in the fifth game of the third set, hitting a forehand long on the second break point to put Nadal 3-2 up and serving.
Gasquet saved one match point at 5-3 but Nadal made no mistake on serve, converting the first of two chance with a backhand volley at the net.
He's a fighter, he fights a lot. I missed some shots, and when you miss some shots against him, the set is finished, Gasquet said.
"I had to play perfect match to win. I did the perfect first set, and after I fought. I played incredible but he has such a great forehand."
Nadal had won all three of their previous tour meetings, but had not faced the Frenchman in two-and-a-half years.
The 21-year-old has landed six titles this year including his third straight French Open crown, the first player to do so since Bjorn Borg who took four between 1978-81.
However he has struggled with knee tendonitis and, until last week's Paris Masters, had not reached a final since July.
Gasquet secured the last berth in the year-ending tournament by reaching the Paris semi-finals, leaping from 13th to eighth in the rankings.
Gasquet, also 21, has enjoyed his best season to date, winning a career-best 48 matches and his fifth tour title. He is the first Frenchman since Sebastien Grosjean in 2001 to appear at the Masters Cup.
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