Nadal mauls Ferrer to clinch Mexican Open

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 N o1 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.

With Ferrer serving down 3-1, an extended rally in which both players scrambled back and forth from the net ended with a top-spin lob winner by Nadal, bringing the crowd to its feet and the score to 30-30.

Second seed Nadal, the 2005 Mexican Open champion, won the next two points to go up two breaks in the set and virtually put the match away.

He pocketed $291,800 in prize money for the win.

Photograph: Henry Romero/Reuters