The second-seeded Spaniard has won 29 consecutive matches and seven tournaments — including the French Open and Wimbledon — this year. This was his first win on hard court this season.
“I win on every surface, no? I win on grass, on hard, on indoor, and on clay, too,” Nadal said. “So if I am playing my best tennis I can win on every surface, no?”
Kiefer, of Germany, was unseeded and ranks 37th in the world. He was playing in his first ATP final since 2005. It was Nadal’s second Rogers Cup title.
Nadal first broke Kiefer in the fifth game when Kiefer, down 15-40, had Nadal far out of position but gently laid his drop shot into the net.
The players held serve until the ninth game, when Kiefer’s double fault gave Nadal the set point.
Kiefer had a chance to break Nadal in the fifth game of the second set, but after going to deuce six times, Kiefer hit a backhand well wide.
That’s when Kiefer came unraveled. He double-faulted twice in the next game, then launched a forehand 40 feet into the air and long before Nadal’s forehand winner gave him the break.
“I don’t know — I mean, if I would have the solution, I would change it, but so far I didn’t find a little thing,” Kiefer said.
Nadal took seven of the next nine points to clinch his 30th career title, spreading his arms out and looking to the sky in celebration.
Nadal was the last seed standing in a tournament that saw top-ranked Roger Federer, No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko, No. 5 David Ferrer and No. 6 Andy Roddick get bounced in the third round, and defending champion Novak Djokovic exit in the quarterfinals.
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