Rafael Nadal marked his return from an injury lay-off by winning his fourth Mubadala World Tennis Championship title today.
The Spaniard withstood the gutsy challenge of David Goffin, the Belgian number 11 seed who qualified for the final on the back of a victory over world number one Andy Murray.
Nadal took time out towards the end of 2016 to focus on rehabilitating from a injury, but he appeared to be carrying no signs of the problems with his wrist and claimed a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Goffin.
The only break of the first arrived when Goffin was serving at 4-5. Breaks were exchanged twice in the second set with Goffin creating four chances to break for 6-5.
But the 14-time grand slam champion held off the attack and hit three breaks through the match to assert his control of proceedings.
Nadal will now turn his attention to the Brisbane International, where he will be joined by Milos Raonic in the men's singles. He then has the Australian Open coming up later in the month where he will compete for his second title win in that tournament.
Meanwhile, Goffin will travel to Doha for the Qatar Open.
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