Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu won the Rogers Cup titles this year. These two were the best in their respective categories and fully deserved to take the trophies home.
While Rafa successfully defended his throne at this tournament, the teenager from Mississauga, Ontario surprised everyone and posted her first triumph here. Andreescu became the first Canadian to win the Rogers Cup since 1969 when Faye Urban took the title.
Her clash in the finals against Serena Williams didn’t last for too long, due to the American’s back pains. At the moment of the forfeit, Andreescu had a 3-1 lead in the first set. The entire event lasted for 19 minutes.
“I’m speechless right now. This has been a dream come true,”
said the 19-year old.
She also admitted that this is not the proper way for winning a tournament, and expressed her sadness because of Serena’s problems.
“This wasn’t the way I expected to win. You are truly a champion,” Andreescu told the 23-time Grand Slam winner.
Her path towards the finals hasn’t been easy at all. All of her opponents were the players from the top of the tennis world: Eugenie Bouchard, Daria Kasatkina, Kiki Bertens, Karolina Pliskova and Sophia Kenin in the semis.
This is the second Masters’ title for the talented youngster. She previously won at Indian Wells, by defeating Angelique Kerber. Her future looks bright, and she already made a big name in her country after winning this tournament.
The person who is known worldwide, and who doesn’t need any more attention is Rafael Nadal. He swiftly defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the finals with 6-3, 6-0, sending a message to all of his opponents, including Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer that he is ready to battle with them at the US Open. Rafa was controlling the tempo throughout the entire event, and except in the early phase of the clash, he was more than dominant.
The second set was a pure example of his ruthlessness and efficiency when he didn’t allow Medvedev to breathe. His play was so demoralizing for the opponent that the Russian didn’t even bother to try to change something in his game.
“I think I played a very solid match, my best match of the week,”
Nadal said.
If this is solid, what might we expect in Cincinnati? After two major titles on the clay court, in Rome and at Roland Garros, Nadal won one on the hard surface. But not only that, the Spaniard defended the tournament on that turf for the first time in his career. In general, this was his fifth title at the Rogers Cup, without a single loss in the finals.
Nadal also got 1000 points and slightly more than $1 million. On the other side, Medvedev earned $531,000 and 600 points. For him, this is the second lost finals on the US Open tour. He was defeated one week ago against Nick Kyrgios in the finals of Washington.
The next big tournament is the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
