Rafael Nadal prevailed in the hard battle of the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament to the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas to regain success in the competition he conquered for the fifth time in his career.

It was an improper duel of the moment. It was Abu Dhabi, a pre-season event, almost Christmas. Preparing for the start of the coming course. Almost a month ago Nadal led Spain to conquer the new Davis Cup in Madrid. He showed a high level of play to overcome in more than three hours the Hellenic tennis player, one of the most representative players of the generation who arrives strongly to question the domain of Nadal himself, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer .

Nadal won 6-7 (3), 7-5 and 7-6 (3) in a tight clash, with no gifts from either of the finalists and options for both. The seventh triumph in eight clashes of the Spanish over the Greek was accompanied by a comeback.

Tsitsipas, winner of the ATP Finals, resisted in each manga. Nadal dominated the first set, broke in the ninth game and took off to close the set and took advantage. But the Greek achieved the 'break' and led to the tiebreaker in which it was better. There was even a controversy: a blow of his entered clearly, Tsitsipas asked for the review and erroneously the chair judge did not give him the point.

Spanish reacted strongly. Equality remained until the final stretch. Nadal pointed the second set to the rest by 7-5 and took the resolution of the crash to the final set. He also had the world number one chance when he was 4-2 but Tsitsipas emerged again, who signed up for the Spanish service. The final had another tiebreaker, where Nadal was better, who achieved the victory and the tournament in the longest final in Abu Dhabi.

"It means a lot to me this fifth title and finishing the year like this is fantastic. What can I say about today's game ... three hours. It's a challenge to face Stefanos, a great player, electric, whom I wish the best for season, "Nadal said at the end of the game.

"Every year that passes one has one more year and it is not known what can happen. But I hope to return," added the Spaniard, the tennis player with more Abu Dhabi titles, on the track.

Previously, Novak Djokovic, eliminated in the semifinals by Tsitsipas, achieved third place in the tournament by winning Russian Karen Khachanov 7-5 and 6-3.

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