Nadal, it seems, doesn’t like it when he plays poorly.  If he plays a match, and it’s as close as his near-loss to Victor Troicki, he gets upset, and sometimes, the next opponent pays the price.  That opponent was Gael Monfils.  Sporting mini-dreads, Monfils had few answers for Nadal in the first set as Nadal played his new brand of aggressive tennis, going for winners early on.  Nadal always had the capacity to do this, but his tennis upbringing made him disdainful of making errors, so he’d reduce the errors, at the price of elongating points, only going for big shots when he had no choice (an attacking opponent).

Monfils lost the first set rather handily, 6-2.  In the second set, Monfils managed to hold his serve more often, but late in the second, Monfils couldn’t manage one last hold.  Nadal broke to 6-5, then held to win 7-5, despite Monfils having some chances to break.

Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, had to wait a few hours, due to rain, to play another Spaniard, David Ferrer.  The match started nearly four hours after the originally scheduled 4 PM start.  They managed 3 games, all to Djokovic, before the rains came once again.  Djokovic was amusing the crowds by helping to “towel off” the courts.  China Open is held in Beijing at the site of the 2008 Olympics.

Both the Japan and China Open are held outdoors.  The Japan Open final was held somewhat early, presumably, so the two finals would not overlap for those Asian countries that get to see both finals.

As number 1 and 2 in the world, Nadal and Djokovic have played to their rankings.  Andy Murray lost somewhat early to Ivan Ljubicic, showing his form is still not where he wants it to be.  Roger Federer is scheduled to return to play this upcoming week in Shanghai, in one of the last Masters 1000 event of the year (Paris Indoors is upcoming as well).