No. 2 seed Roger Federer has won the Shanghai Rolex Masters title and put an end to Spaniard Rafael Nadal's winning streak. Federer defeated the Spaniard in straight sets in the Shanghai final 6-4, 6-3.
Federer broke Nadal in the opening game of the match and then routinely held on to his serve the rest of the set to take the opener. The Swiss hit seven aces and won 15-of-18 of his first serve points during the first set.
Nadal blew a game point in the fifth game of the second set before he was broken by Federer in the same game. Federer, who took a 3-2 lead, held on to his serve to make it 5-3 in his favor.
The No. 2 seed broke Nadal in the ninth game to seal the win and title.
Federer hit 10 aces and won 25-of-30 of his first serve points during the match. Federer broke Nadal three times and gave no break point chances to the Spaniard. The match came to an end after an hour and 12 minutes of play.
Federer handles Nadal once again
The head-to-head record still stands on Nadal's side, as Nadal now has 23 wins and 15 losses against Federer. Yet, Nadal just couldn't find a way to beat Federer so far this year.
Shanghai Rolex Masters champion Federer has been extremely successful against Nadal in his campaign this year. Earlier in 2017, Federer beat Nadal in the Australian Open and Miami Masters final to win the titles.
Also, the Swiss edged the Spaniard in their Indian Wells Masters round-of-16 clash.
Federer now has five wins a row against Nadal. Federer also beat Nadal in Basel in 2015. Nadal hasn't defeated Federer since the 2014 Australian Open.
Title No. 100 in sight
Federer, 36, has captured his sixth title of the season. The world No.
1 captured his first title since Wimbledon at the Shanghai Rolex Masters this week. The Swiss won it all this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Masters 1000 events in Miami, Indian Wells, and Shanghai, as well as the ATP 500 event in Halle.
Federer has also collected his second Shanghai Rolex Masters title. Previously, the Swiss won the Shanghai event in 2014.
Overall, the 36-year-old now has 94 titles in his highly-rich collection.
Nadal, 31, just couldn't win his first-ever Shanghai Rolex Masters title. The Spaniard was playing his second Shanghai final on Sunday. Back in 2005, the now-retired Nikolay Davydenko defeated the 31-year-old in the Shanghai final.
Nadal was also eyeing to his third title win in a row. Nadal made it all the way at the US Open and Beijing's China Open in his last two events played before Shanghai. Nadal won 16 matches in a row before he met Federer in the Shanghai final.
Shanghai Rolex Masters runner-up Nadal has earned six titles so far this year. The Spaniard most notably went all the way at the French Open and US Open, as well as at the Monte Carlo and Madrid Masters. The 31-year-old also took it all at ATP 500 events in Barcelona and Beijing.
