Horacio Zeballos flips the script on Sunday in Vina del Mar, upsetting Rafael Nadal in three sets to take the title. It is the first such triumph of Zeballos’ career.
Rafael Nadal may still be the King of Clay, but it will take more than one tournament for him to ascend back to his throne.
Trying to cap off his first event in more than seven months with a title, Nadal fell to Horacio Zeballos 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-4 in the final of the VTR Open on Sunday night. Zeballos was two points from defeat in the second set but roared back to complete the stunning win after two hours and 46 minutes.
The unseeded Argentine had won 19 of his last 20 matches and he played like it throughout the majority of set one. Zeballos held serve at love three times, dropped a mere three points in six service games, and never lost more on the one service point in any game.
His lone flaw was tightening up on crucial points. The world No. 73 squandered two break chances at 1-0 and a missed another deuce opportunity in the sixth game of the match. In the ensuing tiebreaker, Zeballos committed forehand errors on the first and fifth points to fall behind by two mini-breaks. He got one back for 2-5, but Nadal won two more return points–the last with a perfect backhand return to clinch the set.
Nadal showed signs of pulling away in the second, but he could not manage to do it. Vina del Mar’s No. 1 seed seized a 15-40 advantage at 2-1 with a chance to gain complete control of the match only to net a forehand on the first break point and watch an ace fly past him on the second. From there both players held comfortably en route to another tiebreaker.
Zeballos once again appeared to be in dire straights when he squandered a 6-4 lead in the ‘breaker with consecutive errors. When it mattered most at 6-6, however, the world No. 73 came up with a crushing backhand return then capitalized on his third set point with a forehand winner.
A back-and-forth thriller saw Nadal right the ship for an immediate break in the decider. Out of nowhere, though, a match that had previously featured zero breaks produced two in a row as Zeballos leveled the proceedings at 1-1. The underdog remained on fire the rest of the way. He missed a deuce opportunity at 4-3 but quickly regrouped and emphatically won the last eight points of the match.
Zeballos held at love for 5-4 before delivering a spectacular effort on return with Nadal serving to stay in the championship. Three straight winners brought up match point, which Zeballos converted by forcing his opponent into a running forehand error.
“It’s a dream for me,” said the champ, who has won 20 of his last 21 matches dating back to last season. “To be able to play a final against Nadal was already good enough for me. It’s a moment that will stay in my memory for the rest of my life. For some months, I’ve been playing at a high level and I think I’m at the best moment of my career.”
“It was a great tournament for me,” Nadal assured. “If we take everything, it was positive. It’s true I wanted to win the final, but in wasn’t possible. I just need to keep working, practicing with hope, motivation and the right attitude to have better sensations every week.”
Nadal falls to 36-5 lifetime in ATP clay-court finals and he is a still-ridiculous 210-3 in clay-court matches after winning the first set. This is Zeballos’ first career ATP title in his second final.
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