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Nadal beats Gaudio to keep streak alive and win Mercedes Cup title
Winning another clay-court tournament was the easy part for French Open champion Rafael Nadal. The tough part was figuring out what to do with the sports car he won as a first prize. The 19-year-old Spaniard doesn't have a driver's license, and he didn't know how to work the ignition of the new Mercedes Benz he received after beating Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the Mercedes Cup final on Sunday to extend his clay-court winning streak to 34 matches. "I've never done this before," Nadal said, delighting the crowd of 5,500. He earned euro 103,000 (US$82,000), and sealed a berth in the year-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai--the youngest to qualify for the ATP tour championship since Andrei Medvedev in 1993. He also pulled out of next week's tournament in Umag, Croatia, for undisclosed reasons. Everything else was familiar to the teenager from Mallorca. Nadal beat Gaudio--last year's French Open champion--for his sixth straight title on clay and eighth overall this year, matching top-ranked Roger Federer. On Monday, he'll overtake Lleyton Hewitt to move into the No. 2 spot in the ATP's new rankings. "It's unbelievable--six months ago I couldn't dream of winning all these tournaments," Nadal said. "But every point was tough today. He (Gaudio) is one of the best players in the world on clay." Gaudio said: "There's no doubt I played a great champion--he was just too good. No one on the tour can find a way to beat him. I never found a way the whole match." Nadal picked up his 10th career title in 11 finals and kept alive a clay-court winning streak dating to April--the sixth longest in history. Guillermo Vilas owns the record of 53 straight wins on clay in 1977. The Spaniard had his serve broken twice, but immediately broke back both times in a match full of drop shots, lobs and fierce rallies. Gaudio had 51 unforced errors--double Nadal's total--but the Argentine credited Nadal's play. "That's normal against him," Gaudio said. "He's the one that makes you do all those errors--he hits the ball so hard." Gaudio was so frustrated he threw his racket more than once. Nadal never once lost his composure. "I never throw the racket, I never get angry," he said. "I am always focused."
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