Nadal march goes on in Toronto

Rafael Nadal insisted he is capable of winning on any surface after he closed in on the world number one spot by adding a hardcourt title to his impressive 2008 triumphs in Toronto last night.

Nadal completed his run at the Rogers Cup with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Nicolas Kiefer for his seventh title of the season and the 30th of his career.

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who defended his clay court French Open crown last month before unseating world number one Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, made a seamless transition from the lawns of the All England Club to the hard courts of this $2.6m (€1.6m) event, winning 10 of 11 sets over his five-match march at this tournament.

“I win on every surface,” Nadal said. “I win on grass, on hard, on indoor, and on clay, too. So if I am playing my best tennis I can win on every surface.”

Nadal has won 29 straight matches and has collected an ATP Tour-leading 61 wins this season.

On Sunday, he became the third-youngest player, behind only Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors, to record his 30th career title.

Up next for Nadal is next week’s Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati.

If he wins the title at the hardcourt event, Nadal would surpass Federer for the top spot in the rankings and end the Swiss superstar’s record 234-week reign as the world number one.

But, despite admitting his wish to be number one, Nadal, who has been ranked second for a record 157 consecutive weeks is not concerned by the rankings.

“Every player wants to be number one,” he added.

“I would love to be number one, but I am number two right now. I’m very happy to be number two, because with my titles, with my points, in a normal situation I would have been number one before.

“So I think I have to be happy, very happy anyway, if I am number one or number two. Because if I am number two, it’s because in front of me there is amazing player like Roger.”