Rafael Nadal to finish this year as World no.1,after winning his second round match at the Paris Masters against Chung Hyeon .The only challenge he had Roger Federer didn’t play in Paris Masters.Only 1,500 points are available in London for the ATP World Tour Finals in London,and Federer is 1,465 points behind before the match.Federer now cannot catch his points total, even if he wins all his matches at London’s O2 Arena, and will have to settle for second place.
Hyeon got off to a solid start and broke Nadal’s serve as he moved 2-1 up but the Spaniard then won four games in a row.The South Korean levelled for 5-5 but paid for his efforts as Nadal sealed the set with two successive games. The Spaniard triumphed 7-5, 6-3 in just under two hours over South Korea’s Hyeon Chung.
This is the fourth time that Nadal is finishing the year as World No 1 after 2008, 2010 and 2013.Only Pete Sampras (6) and Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors (5) have ended the year as world No. 1 on more occasions and Nadal finds himself in esteemed company in the all-time charts. Nadal has also become the oldest year-end World No 1 since the rankings began.
Nadal, has never won the Paris Masters tournament. Nadal will next face Pablo Cuevas on Thursday.
