Nadal Wins Davis Cup For Spain

Rafael Nadal beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in four sets on Sunday to secure a fifth Davis Cup tennis title for Spain.

Nadal, No. 2 in the ATP World Tour rankings, rallied from losing the opening set to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0) at the Olympic Stadium in Seville.

“It was the most amazing atmosphere I have ever played in,” Nadal told Sky Sports. “The crowd were crazy. Everything was perfect.”

Spain, which has now won the event three times in four years, has an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five competition. David Ferrer was due to play Argentina’s Juan Monaco in the final singles match.

Nadal, 25, remains unbeaten in Davis Cup singles since losing his debut match in 2004.

He struggled in the first set today, losing six straight games after taking the opener. He was then broken to love at the start of the second set, but recovered and looked on course for a comfortable win after taking a 2-sets-to-1 lead.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion started the fourth set with another break, then held to love, but Del Potro rallied to 2-2. The players swapped breaks in the next four games before Del Potro, ranked No. 11, did so again to serve for the set.

Nadal fought back and after another break each the set went to a tiebreak, which the Spaniard dominated.

“It was an unbelievable match,” Spain captain Albert Costa told Sky Sports. “He fought hard so that’s why we won.”

Spain established a 2-0 lead after the opening day, with singles wins for Nadal and Ferrer. Argentina kept alive its hopes yesterday with 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory for David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank against Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in the doubles.

Serbia is the only team other than Spain to win the Davis Cup in the past four years. Spain only recorded its first success in the competition in 2000.