Russian fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny made a winning start to the New Year as he routed world no. 2 Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-1 in the final of the Chennai Open on Sunday.
Nadal, who had won a four-hour semifinal battle against fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya on Saturday night, looked jaded and out of sorts as he went down to the Russian in 57 minutes without a semblance of a fight.
"I cannot say I played Rafa Nadal today," said Youzhny. "I saw a little bit of the match yesterday, it was unbelievable and he was going to find it tough to play well today again. It's not that I played well so I can't say anything about it.
"I did not win the match, Rafa lost it. It was a present from him."
In one of his most commanding performances, Youzhny slammed nine aces and pounced on Nadal's second serve. He also dominated Nadal from the baseline, with his single-handed backhand doing all the damage.
This was Youzhny's fourth career title in nine finals.
The tennis fans in Chennai were spoilt with a pulsating match between Nadal and Moya on Saturday and expected a similar spectacle in the final.
But the Spaniard, even though the fittest player in the world, could not talk his body into beating Youzhny's smart game.
The second serves sat up to be killed and Nadal kept hitting the ball in mid-court, never shaking the Russian out of his comfort zone.
"I don't want to put an excuse when I lose," said Nadal. "He is playing an unbelievable level of tennis."
Nadal managed to avoid the double bagel when he won the first service game in the second set.
"After the first set I thought may be he'd come back. But he was not moving well, not hitting well," observed Youzhny.
Nadal took a medical time-out at 1-4 down but it was more out of tiredness than a specific injury.
