WORLD number one Rafa Nadal has netted his sixth ATP title of the season and the 75th of his tennis career at the China Open in Beijing after beating Australia's Nick Kyrgios in two straight sets.
Rafa's rival from down under gave him a tough match with his powerful serve and lightning-quick moves, but the Mallorca-born ace's level head won out in the face of Kyrgios' losing his cool.
Whilst Rafa remained calm and focused, Kyrgios lived up to his reputation as the enfant terrible of tennis with numerous heated arguments with the referee, none of which helped his cause in a match that ended on 6-2 and 6-1 to Nadal.
The China Open has been a somewhat elusive title for the 'man from Manacor' – despite his regular attendance at the Beijing tournament, he has only reached the final three times and has not won it in 12 years, since beating Argentina's Guillermo Coria in 2005 when the Spaniard was only just starting out on the international scene.
In 2013 and 2015, Rafa got through to the last round but on both occasions fell to Serbian star Novak Djokovic.
Beijing has not been totally unlucky for Nadal before now, however – he scooped up a gold in the men's singles there in the 2008 Olympics.
This latest victory is Rafa's sixth title of the year, after Roland Garros, the US Open, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid.
And he only has to win another three to beat his nearest rival in tennis history, retired US player John McEnroe, who netted 77 before hanging up his racquet.
In the women's singles in Beijing, Spain's world number one Garbiñe Muguruza crashed out of the semi-final after committing numerous errors, handing victory to Romania's Simona Halep.
But Halep lost to France's Caroline García in two sets in the final, which ended on 6-4 and 7-6(3).
