Spain’s Rafael Nadal poses with his trophy after winning the ATP Hamburg Open in northern Germany yesterday. (AFP)

AFP/Hamburg

Top seed Rafael Nadal won the Hamburg claycourt title yesterday gaining a much-needed confidence boost after a slump in form, beating Italian eighth seed Fabio Fognini 7-5, 7-5.
Nadal had been beaten twice previously this season by the experienced Fognini, in Rio de Janeiro and then in Barcelona. But he gained his revenge in the northern German city, recovering from being broken in the very first game of a tight opening set and eventually clinching the title on his first match point after more than two and a half hours on court.
Nadal has now won the Hamburg title twice after a previous success in 2008 -- his last appearance—and has 47 claycourt titles. “I had some cramps which wasn’t very pleasant,” said 29-year-old Nadal.
“I lost the last two times against him, so I knew it was going to be a tough one. I think I had a great attitude the whole match, very positive, fighting for every ball. I had some tough moments on court, lost opportunities, but every time I came back and I kept fighting with the right mentality. I’m very happy for the victory. It is an important victory for me.”
Nadal now heads for the United States hardcourt season with the US Open, the season’s last Grand Slam tournament, starting in New York on August 31.
It has been a tough year for the former world number one who lost his French Open title in June before seeing his world ranking slump to 10, his lowest in a decade. “Now the hardcourt season is starting, it’s a different story,” he said.  
“But at the same time, I’ll keep going with the same mentality and this title helps to be a little bit more calm and add some points to my ranking to try to finish the year in the top eight again.”

Thiem downs top seed for third career title
Austria’s Dominic Thiem claimed his third career ATP title when downing top seed David Goffin 7-5, 6-2 in the Swiss Open final. The 21-year-old third seed added this to his wins in Nice in May and last week in Umag to become the first Austrian to get on the Gstaad roll of honour.
For Thiem there was a sense of revenge as last season Belgium’s Goffin had come out on top when they met in the final at
Kitzbuehel.
On the way to the final he overcame second seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the semis and another Spaniard, seventh seed Pablo Carreno-Busta in the last eight. Thiem went 3-1 up in the opening set only for Goffin to peg him back with two breaks of serve only for a double fault allowing Thiem to level at 5-5. A third break saw Thiem take the set, and with momentum on his side he closed out comfortably to win in one hour and 26 minutes.