Original Spanish Version

El Espinar (Segovia) The world number 51, 17 year old Mallorcan Rafael Nadal captured his first ATP title by winning the El Espinar Hardcourt Championships, defeating Czech Tomas Zib 6-2, 7-6(1) in a match that lasted one hour and forty minutes.

Nadal began as the favourite, seeing as he has made a more dramatic rise up the rankings more than Zib this season, and the player from Manorca did not disappoint.

He managed to break his rival in the fourth game and wrapped up the first set in 32 minutes. In this set Nadal had the better consistency and also served 4 aces.

Even though Rafael had chances to break in the second set, neither player lost their serve. However, the control that Zib had had on his serve in this set deserted him in the tiebreak and allowed Nadal to gain a 5-0 lead and so was able to close out the match.

With this form, Nadal captures his first ATP title at the age of 17, proving that it is not by chance he is ranked 51 in the ATP entry system.

With this victory in the 100,000 euro El Espinar tournament, Nadal wins 14,400 euros as well as 80 rankings points.



**Thanks to Anne for the translation from Spanish. Please do not use or copy without the permission of the original source and VamosRafael.com. Thanks.**

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