ACAPULCO, Mexico — Rafael Nadal blasted past top seed and defending champion David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in Saturday's final of the Mexican Open in a powerful performance that indicated he has quickly returned to near his best after a long-term knee injury. Ferrer was a three-time defending champion and had won 19 straight matches in this event, but he could find no answer to Nadal, losing to his Spanish compatriot in just one hour and five minutes. Nadal surprised himself with the one-sided victory. “I did not do anything wrong today, I had a great match, almost perfect,” Nadal said. “I would have never imagined playing at the level that I played today, I'm leaving happy and surprised. I played a great match against one of the top players in the world, a specialist in clay who did not look like himself out there, he had a bad day.” The women's final was similarly one-sided with Italy's Sara Errani beating Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain 6--0, 6-4. Nadal missed seven months with a left knee injury before making his comeback in the Latin American clay court season. He has played three tournaments: making the final but surprisingly losing to Horacio Zeballos in Chile, taking out the Brasil Open by beating David Nalbandian and now cruising past Ferrer for his 38th clay title. Seven of those 38 have been against Ferrer. So well had his knee stood up that Nadal was ready to test it on the more jarring hardcourt surface at the upcoming Indian Wells tournament after an exhibition appearance at Madison Square Garden. Gulbis to face Roger-Vasselin Edouard Roger-Vasselin will meet qualifier Ernests Gulbis in an unlikely final of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships after they beat the top two seeds in Saturday's semifinals. France's Roger-Vasselin upset top-seeded John Isner 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 while Gulbis edged veteran Tommy Haas 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2). The 15th-ranked Isner could never find his form against Roger-Vasselin, who was playing in his first career ATP World Tour semifinal. Roger-Vasselin was 0-5 in career quarterfinals. His father, Christophe, was a French Open semifinalist in 1983 and ranked as high as 39th. Gulbis is the fifth qualifier to reach the Delray Beach finals. The others were Marinko Matosevic of Australia (2012), Evgeny Korolev 0f Uzbekistan in 2009, Kei Nishikori of Japan in 2008, Alex Calatrava of Spain in 2000 and Andrew Ilie of Australia in 1998. Nishikori and Ilie won the titles when they reached the final. Niculescu bags first title Romania's Monica Niculescu captured her first career singles title with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over Olga Puchkova of Russia in the final of the Brazil Cup at Florianopolis Saturday. The world No. 75 unsettled the hard-hitting Puchkova, who defeated Venus Williams in the semifinals, with a range of slices, angles and drop shots. “I competed in two finals before and lost to (Victoria) Azarenka and Venus, and today I finally managed to win one — I'm so happy,” she said. Pliskova wins in Malaysia Karolina Pliskova shrugged off a first-set thrashing and a 40-minute rain delay to win her first WTA singles crown at the BMW Malaysian Open Sunday. The Czech, who was playing in her first WTA final, broke American wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands' heart with a come-from-behind 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory in 106 minutes in Kuala Lumpur. Defeat for Mattek-Sands, who has 12 doubles titles to her name at the age of 28, meant her search for a first singles crown continues. — Agencies
