“For me, I played almost perfectly,” said Nadal following the match. “My knee responded well all week.”
Next tournamentNadal also confirmed he would play in next week’s Indian Wells hard-court tournament, despite speculation he might skip the event to spare his knee.“My heart tells me I should continue competing, that I need to move on to the next tournament,” he added.Nadal had been sidelined for more than seven months due to a partially torn tendon in his knee. He made his return early last month at the Chilean Open, losing in the final to Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
A week later he claimed the Brazil Open title beating David Nalbandian.The former world number one charged out of the blocks and won the first eight games against three-time defending champion Ferrer, who saw his 19-match winning streak at the clay-court event come to an end.
“Rafa was just better than me today,” said Ferrer.Nadal, the 2005 Mexican Open champion pocketed $291,800 in prize money for the win.