Rafael Nadal won an unconvincing second straight Madrid Open title after Kei Nishikori sustained a back injury when closing on victory in the second set of Sunday’s final and was forced to retire early in the third.
Japan’s Nishikori, the 10th seed and one of the game’s rising talents, made a blistering start on Nadal’s favoured clay to win the first set 6-2 and was a break up in the second and serving at 4-3 when disaster struck.
After a long rally with the score at 15-30, the Japanese pulled up clutching his back and Nadal went on to win the game and the set 6-4 to force a decider.
Nishikori could barely walk to the net to shake hands after Nadal had raced into a 3-0 lead in the third.
