ACAPULCO, March 3, (Agencies): A dominant Rafa Nadal dismantled fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-0 6-2 on Saturday to win his second Mexican Open title and continue his successful comeback from a long injury lay-off. Nadal, ranked fifth in the world, needed just over an hour to dispatch top seed Ferrer and was delighted with his form. “For me, I played almost perfectly,” said Nadal following the match. “My knee responded well all week.” Nadal also confirmed he would play in next week’s Indian Wells hard-court tournament, despite speculation he might skip the event to spare his knee. “My heart tells me I should continue competing, that I need to move on to the next tournament,” he added. Nadal had been sidelined for more than seven months due to a partially torn tendon in his knee. He made his return early last month at the Chilean Open, losing in the final to Argentine Horacio Zeballos. A week later he claimed the Brazil Open title.

The former world number one charged out of the blocks and won the first eight games against three-time defending champion Ferrer, who saw his 19-match winning streak at the clay-court event come to an end. “Rafa was just better than me today,” said Ferrer. World No. 4 Ferrer waited 44 minutes to win his first game of the final, the crowd erupting in applause as he put away a service winner to trail 2-1 in the second set.
In Malaysia, unseeded Czech Karolina Pliskova won her maiden WTA singles title beating American wildcard entrant Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the Malaysian Open final on Sunday. The 20-year-old, playing her first singles final, dropped her first set in the tournament but rallied past Mattek-Sands 1-6 7-5 6-3. “I was a little nervous at the start and couldn’t get my serves in. That contributed to the heavy (first set) loss,” Pliskova told reporters. “I woke up in the second set and began to serve better. This helped turn the tide.
“It was a tough match but I’m delighted to win my first singles title. I still can’t believe it.” Mattek-Sands got off to a flying start and looked set to win her first singles title in her fourth final but the big-serving Czech, ranked 127, found her way back into the match. The match was tied 1-1 in the third and final set when a thunderstorm and rain halted play for more than 30 minutes on another hot and humid day in Kuala Lumpur.

Monica Niculescu of Romania defeated Olga Puchkova of Russia 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the final of the Brazil Tennis Cup to win her first WTA title on Saturday. Niculescu had been runner-up twice on tour before finally breaking through at the outdoor hard-court tournament in southern Brazil. The 75th-ranked Romanian broke Puchkova’s serve to go up 5-4 in the final set then converted on her service game to close out the match in 1 hour, 59 minutes. “It’s unbelievable,” Niculescu said. “This means a lot, I was so nervous and wanted to win this so much. My game was not brilliant today but it shows that in tennis if you keep fighting you can manage to win.” She broke Puchkova three times to win the first set but allowed the Russian to rebound in the second with two breaks of her own, including in the final game of the set. The 109th-ranked Puchkova, who ended with six double faults, had upset top-seeded Venus Williams in three sets in Friday’s semifinals.
 

Edouard Roger-Vasselin will meet qualifier Ernests Gulbis in an unlikely final of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships after they beat the top two seeds in Saturday’s semifinals. France’s Roger-Vasselin upset top-seeded John Isner 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 while Gulbis edged veteran Tommy Haas 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2).The 15th-ranked Isner could never find his form against Roger-Vasselin, who was playing in his first career ATP World Tour semifinal. Roger-Vasselin was 0-5 in career quarterfinals. His father, Christophe, was a French Open semifinalist in 1983 and ranked as high as 39th. “It’s a strange feeling because I was not supposed to come here but I got in at the last minute,” Roger-Vasselin said. “I couldn’t imagine I would be in the final at the end of the week. “I knew on Friday at 5 o’clock that guys pulled out and that I was in. I was still in France.”

Latvia’s Gulbis, who won the title here in 2010, moved into a tournament final for the first time since 2011, when he won in Los Angeles.
Gulbis is the fifth qualifier to reach the Delray Beach finals. The others were Marinko Matosevic of Australia (2012), Evgeny Korolev 0f Uzbekistan in 2009, Kei Nishikori of Japan in 2008, Alex Calatrava of Spain in 2000 and Andrew Ilie of Australia in 1998.
Nishikori and Ilie won the titles when they reached the final.
“It is the first outdoor tournament after the indoor season,” Gulbis said. “Qualifiers have one small advantage as they’ve played already three matches while the main draw guys haven’t played a match yet.
“That’s why there’s a lot of upsets here.”
It was another chilly day in South Florida and the wind was swirling in the Gulbis-Haas clash. In the third set, as the wind died down, the quality of the tennis picked up.
“The beginning was tough and it’s not easy to play in those conditions,” Haas said. “When it becomes that windy you’re whole game plan, whole mood changes and you have to play different tennis.
“In the third set the wind was much better.”
Gulbis is known as a talented player who has never found consistency in his game. He’s also known for losing his temper when matches aren’t going his way.
On Saturday against Haas, he competed to win in adverse conditions and didn’t lose focus.
“There is no old Ernests,” said Gulbis, who laughingly addressed his better attitude. “Experience. (It’s) when you lived a quarter of a century.”
Haas is known for having an effective serve, but with the windy conditions he only posted one ace and an uncharacteristic nine double faults.
Haas had opportunities to take control of the third set, but wasn’t able to capitalize on his chances. The German had two break points on Gulbis’ serve in the ninth game and three break points in 11th game as well.
“I definitely put myself in position to win the match but just didn’t do it,” Haas said. “If I had won one of those (break points) I think I’d have had the match in my favor.”

Gulbis dominated the tiebreaker, securing two minibreaks: a forehand drop shot on the third point and when Haas netted a backhand on the seventh point. Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis upset second-seeded Tommy Haas 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2) to reach the final of the Delray Beach International Championships on Saturday. Gulbis, ranked 109th, moved into his first final since 2011, when he won in Los Angeles. His other title came here in 2010. Gulbis will play either top-seeded John Isner or Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. Gulbis is the fifth qualifier to reach the Delray Beach finals. The others were Marinko Matosevic of Australia (2012), Evgeny Korolev of Uzbekistan in 2009, Kei Nishikori of Japan in 2008, Alex Calatrava of Spain in 2000 and Andrew Ilie of Australia in 1998. “It is the first outdoor tournament after the indoor season,” Gulbis said. “Qualifiers have one small advantage as they’ve played already three matches while the main draw guys haven’t played a match yet. “That’s why there’s a lot of upsets here.”

It was another chilly day in South Florida and the wind was swirling at 24 mph (38 kph) during the first two sets. In the third set, as the wind died down to 14 mph (22 kph) the quality of the tennis picked up.
“The beginning was tough and it’s not easy to play in those conditions,” Haas said. “When it becomes that windy you’re whole game plan, whole mood changes and you have to play different tennis. “In the third set the wind was much better.” Gulbis is known as a talented player who has never found consistency in his game. He’s also known for losing his temper when matches aren’t going his way. Against Haas, he competed to win in adverse conditions and didn’t lose focus. “There is no old Ernests,” said Gulbis, who laughingly addressed his better attitude. “Experience. (It’s) when you have lived a quarter of a century.”

Haas is known for having an effective serve, but with the windy conditions he only posted one ace and an uncharacteristic nine double faults. Haas had opportunities to take control of the third set, but wasn’t able to capitalize on his chances. The German had two break points on Gulbis’ serve in the ninth game and three break points in 11th game as well. “I definitely put myself in position to win the match but just didn’t do it,” Haas said. “If I had won one of those (break points) I think I’d have had the match in my favor.” Gulbis dominated the tiebreaker, securing two minibreaks: a forehand drop shot on the third point and when Haas netted a backhand on the seventh point.