Nadal defeats Monfils for Japan Open title

TOKYO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal collected his seventh ATP title of the year with a straight-set victory Sunday over Gael Monfils in the finals of the Japan Open tennis tournament.

Nadal, who is assured of being the No. 1-ranked player through the end of the year, improved to 66-8 in 2010 with a 6-1, 7-5 win over the fifth-seeded Monfils.

Nadal didn't face a break point and dropped just 11 points -- only four in the first set -- in his 10 service games.

Monfils landed 85 percent of his first serves and had nine aces in winning 62 percent of points on serve. But he had little answer for Nadal's serve and was unable to counter the three service breaks he suffered as Nadal won more than 90 percent of the points when his first serve was in.

Monfils is a respectable 15-5 since July, when he was in the finals of a tournament in Germany. Nadal, however, is an amazing 28-3 since the start of Wimbledon.

He collected $261,000 for Sunday's win, pushing his year's winnings to more than $7.5 million. Monfils has won about $750,000 this year after taking home the Japan Open second-place check for $121,000.