Double delight for Spanish tennis in Asia
Sunday, October 9, 2016 @ 7:32 PM
Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreño Busta came back from a one-set down on Sunday to capture the China Open doubles title, their first tournament victory together.
They defeated Jack Sock and Bernard Tomic 6-7(6), 6-2, 10-8 in 89 minutes. After losing the first set in the tie-break despite breaking to take the advantage early on, the Spaniards made no mistake in the second, breaking twice to force the decider. Sock and Tomic were quickly ahead in the match tie-breaker (3-0), but once the Spaniards levelled at 4-4 the advantage swung one way then the other in a series of tense exchanges until Nadal & Carreño finally sealed the victory 10-8.
The Spanish duo started their tournament by defeating No.3-seeded Bopanna/Nestor before defeating the Chinese pairing of Gong/Ze to reach the semis where they dismissed the favourites, the USA's Bob & Mike Bryan, 7-5, 6-4.
It was 11th ATP doubles title for Rafa and his second of the season, adding to the gold medal he won at the Rio Olympics with Marc López in August.
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