Rafael Nadal is back in the winner's circle.
Nadal earned a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over Viktor Troicki on Sunday to capture the Mercedes Cup for his second title of 2015. It was also his first grass- court tournament victory since winning Wimbledon in 2010.
The Spaniard ended a seven-tournament victory drought, picking up his 66th career title and just his second of 2015. He hadn't won a trophy since beating Juan Monaco for the Buenos Aires championship on March 1.
Nadal's winless stretch included an unlikely dry spell on clay. He failed to win a French Open tune-up on the slow surface, falling to Andy Murray in the Madrid final, before also coming up short for only the second time in 11 appearances at Roland Garros with a surprising quarterfinal exit.
Novak Djokovic denied Nadal a 10th title in the French capital with a dominant straight-set win, but the 14-time Grand Slam champ took to the grass in preparation for Wimbledon with a solid effort this week.
Nadal needed three sets to win his first two matches at the new grass event in Stuttgart, then eased past Gael Monfils in the semifinals before Sunday's strong showing.
The top-seeded Nadal saved the only break point he faced Sunday in the first set, then finished the tiebreaker with an ace. He carried the momentum into the second set and broke Troicki for a 3-1 lead, then held serve from there to beat the Serb for the fifth time in as many meetings.
It was Nadal's third title in Stuttgart. The first two came in 2005 and 2007 when the tournament was played on clay.
Troicki fell to 2-5 all-time in finals, including 1-1 this year. He won the Australian Open tune-up in Sydney to start the campaign.
[SportsNetwork.com]
