If Rafael Nadal is to finish as the year-end No. 1 for a fourth time, his recent performances on hard courts will be of critical importance.

Nadal extended his win streak to 12 straight with the China Open title on Sunday, defeating Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1. The Spaniard, who remains undefeated since returning to World No. 1 on 21 August, tightened his grip on the top spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London. Now up to 2,360 points over Roger Federer, he has put himself in prime position to cap his 2017 campaign in No. 1 fashion.

Victory in Beijing gives Nadal his 75th career crown, moving to within two titles of John McEnroe for fourth on the Open Era list. It was his second triumph in the Chinese capital, having previously defeated Guillermo Coria for the 2005 trophy.

The Manacor native, who notched his 60th match win of the season with a semi-final victory over Grigor Dimitrov, added a sixth title this year. He previously emerged victorious at the US Open one month ago, in addition to wins at Roland Garros, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Monte-Carlo and Madrid, as well as in Barcelona.

More to come…

A 75th career title—and first in Beijing since 2005—for @RafaelNadal!

?#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/bTYE5tBOnX

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 8, 2017

Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama had the Ariake Colosseum rocking on Sunday afternoon at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 when they became the first all-Japanese titlists in Tokyo for 12 years. Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako of Japan watched the historic final unfold.

Mclachlan, New Zealand-born by a Japanese mother, and Uchiyama defeated second-seeded Briton Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 7-6(1) in one hour and 32 minutes for their first ATP World Tour team title.

The Japanese wild cards earned 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points and shared $101,440 in prize money at the end of a memorable which saw them knock out another team in contention for next month’s Nitto ATP Finals, top seeds and recent US Open champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, in the first round.

Mclachlan and Uchiyama are the first all-Japanese titlists at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Tokyo since 2005 when Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki defeated Swede Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry of Australia in the final.

Mclachlan, appearing this week in the main draw of an ATP World Tour tournament for the first time, saved three break points from 15/40 in the opening game of the match. The Japanese duo showed few nerves in taking a 3-0 lead, before Murray and Soares worked their way back from a 1-4 deficit to 4-4. However, Murray struck a double fault at 4-5, 30/40 to end the 30-minute opener.

Mclachlan came through a deciding deuce point at the start of the second set, the lone break point chance for either team. In the tie-break, the Japanese were at their aggressive best opening up a 3/0 lead before completing victory when Murray crossed to hit a forehand volley into the net. It denied Soares the 400th doubles match win of his career.

Murray and Soares are currently No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November. Murray is now 19-20 in tour-level finals and Soares is 26-25 overall in championship matches. The duo is 4-3 in finals this year (7-5 overall as a team).

The British-Brazilian team earned 300 points and split $49,660 in prize money.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

Sunday is of the utmost importance in Tokyo, as one player in the final is competing for a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals, while his opponent is attempting to capture his maiden ATP World Tour title.

The championship match of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships features unseeded Adrian Mannarino against No. 4 seed David Goffin, who has won both previous meetings, in Marseille (2012) and Basel (2015). Mannarino is trying to become the first Frenchman to win the Tokyo title since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2009, while Goffin is attempting to become the first Belgian to win the event.

Goffin is appearing in the Tokyo final for the second-straight year (l. to Kyrgios) and the he enters his attempt to win his fourth-career title on an eight-match winning streak after earning his third-career ATP World Tour title in Shenzhen last Sunday.

The Belgian has moved to No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London standings and is 105 points ahead of American Sam Querrey for the final spot. If he wins, Goffin will add 200 points to rise past Pablo Carreno Busta into No. 8 in the Race. Goffin is playing in his fourth final this season (1-2) and the 10th ATP World Tour final of his career (3-6).

Mannarino, who posted the biggest win of his career over No. 5 Marin Cilic in the semi-finals is trying to capture his first ATP World Tour title.

There have been seven first-time winners on the ATP World Tour this season. The last player to win his maiden crown in Tokyo was South African Wesley Moodie in 2005 (d. Ancic). He was also the last unseeded Tokyo champion. The last left-hander to win the event was Rafael Nadal, who is in the China Open final, in 2010.

This is Mannarino’s second final of the season after a runner-up showing in Antalya, Turkey in July (l. to Sugita), and the fourth of his career. The Frenchman posted his third Top 10 win of the season over Cilic and equaled his career-best wins total (28) from 2015.

In the doubles championship, the Japanese wild card duo of Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama take on No. 2 seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who are 3-2 in finals this season.

The Japanese squad upset the top seeds and US Open champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the quarter-finals en route to the final. This is Mclachlan’s first ATP World Tour main draw, while Uchiyama entered the week with one tour victory, three years ago in Tokyo. The last Japanese duo to win an ATP World Tour doubles title was Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki in 2005 Tokyo. 

1. Roger and Rafa in China: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are the top two seeds in the tournament for the first time. Nadal leads Federer by 2,160 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London (going into Beijing F), with 4,000 points still available for both players at Shanghai, Basel, Paris and the Nitto ATP Finals.

2. Rafa at No. 1: Nadal has played at every edition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters except 2012. He is 12-7 at the tournament, posting his best finish as runner-up at the inaugural event in 2009 (l. to Davydenko). The Spaniard is ranked No. 1 for the 149th week of his career and making his third Shanghai appearance as the top player in the world (2010 3rd Round and 2013 Semi-finalist).

3. Roger Returns: Federer is making his first ATP World Tour appearance since reaching the quarter-finals at the US Open. The Swiss is 13-4 at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, winning the 2014 title (d. Simon) and reaching the 2010 final (l. to Murray). In his last visit to Shanghai two years ago, Federer lost his opening match to Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Federer is 39-4 in 2017 with five titles.

4. Former Champions/Finalists: Federer is the only former champion in the Shanghai Rolex Masters main draw (2014) and one of five players to have finished runner-up (2010), joining Nadal (2009), Juan Martin del Potro (2013), Gilles Simon (2014) and Roberto Bautista Agut (2016).

5. Next Gen ATP Finals Preview: The Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan are in the main or qualifying draw, led by ATP Masters 1000 Rome and Montreal champion Alexander Zverev, US Open quarter-finalist Andrey Rublev and 18-year-old sensation Denis Shapovalov.

6. Sascha Makes History: Last week in Beijing, Zverev became the youngest qualifier for the Nitto ATP Finals since del Potro in 2008. The 20-year-old German is also the youngest Top 5 player, ATP Masters 1000 champion, and five-time champion in a season since Novak Djokovic in 2007. Zverev defeated Cilic en route to the third round in his Shanghai debut last year (l. to Tsonga).

7. The Race is On: No. 7 seed Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 8 seed David Goffin, No. 10 seed Sam Querrey and No. 11 seed Kevin Anderson are battling to earn a spot for the eight-man Nitto ATP Finals. Going into the Tokyo final, Goffin is holding the final spot. Goffin is 8-0 in Asia thus far this fall after winning the Shenzhen title and reaching the Tokyo final (vs. Mannarino).

8. Wild Cards: Chinese players Di Wu, Yibing Wu and Ze Zhang join Shapovalov as main draw wild cards. Yibing Wu, 17, won the junior singles and doubles titles at the US Open, where Shapovalov qualified and became the youngest player to reach the fourth round since Michael Chang in 1989.

9. Perfect Attendance: Simon and three-time semi-finalist Feliciano Lopez are the only players in the nine-year history of the Shanghai Rolex Masters to play at every edition of the event (2009-17).

10. Doubles Draw: Defending champions John Isner and Jack Sock are joined by 2017 Grand Slam winners Henri Kontinen/John Peers, Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus, Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau. Kubot and Melo are the No. 1 team in the world.

The leader in the Emirates ATP Race To London is playing an opponent who is attempting to salvage his dreams of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in a blockbuster final at the China Open on Sunday in Beijing.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is pitted against No. 8 seed Nick Kyrgios in the fifth Fedex Head 2 Head meeting between the two (2-2) and the third of this season alone. Nadal won 6-3, 6-1 in May in the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open before Kyrgios won 6-2, 7-5 in the quarter-finals at Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in August. This is their first meeting in a final.

Nadal is appearing in his fourth China Open final (1-2), having won his first and only championship in Beijing during his debut in 2005 (d. Coria). In both of the finals the Spaniard lost (2013, 2015), he fell to Novak Djokovic, who is out for the season due to injury.

The 31-year-old Spaniard is appearing in an ATP World Tour-best ninth final of the season (5-3) and the 110th in his career (74-35). The last time he won at least six titles in a season was in 2013, with 10, and winning his sixth of 2017 on Sunday would push him ahead of Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev, with whom he currently is tied at five titles, which leads the tour. 

Nadal has saved 22 of 25 break points (88%) en route to the final, holding 47 of 50 service games (94%). He comes in on an 11-match winning streak and is trying to become the 12th champion on the ATP World Tour this season to capture a trophy after saving match point(s). He saved two match points in his first-round win over Lucas Pouille. The last time Nadal went on to win an ATP World Tour title after saving match point(s) was three years ago in Rio de Janeiro, where he saved two in a semi-final win against Pablo Andujar.

“I am very pleased the way that I have been playing the whole week, after saving a very tough first day,” Nadal said after his three-set semi-final win over Grigor Dimitrov. “Another chance tomorrow to compete in a big match. That’s important for me. That’s why we practice every day and we try to improve every morning.”

Kyrgios is appearing in his second final of the season, and his first since the Western & Southern Open (l. to Dimitrov). A victory over the Spaniard would give the Australian his fourth ATP World Tour title, with his last title coming one year ago in Tokyo (d. Goffin).

The 22-year-old Aussie leads the tournament in service games won, being broken only once (97%) and return games won, converting 14 of 21 (67%) break points over the course of the week.

But while this is the first time that Kyrgios is facing a Top 10 opponent in an ATP World Tour final, he has enjoyed plenty of success in big matches. Kyrgios is 14-20 lifetime against Top 10 competition (4-3 this year), including 8-8 vs. Top 5 foes.

The only previous time Kyrgios has faced a World No. 1, he came out with a victory, beating Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2014 when he was still ranked No. 144.

Today, Kyrgios has moved to No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Race to London and he will go to No. 14 if he wins the title. The big-match man could take another big step toward qualifying for London’s Nitto ATP Finals for the first time if he could get past Nadal.