Rafael Nadal completed the "Turn Back the Clock" weekend that rival Roger Federer started.
A day after No. 2 Federer defeated current No. 1 Novak Djokovic to win the Dubai Championship, Nadal, now the No. 4 player in the world, captured his first title since the 2014 French Open with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Juan Monaco to win the Argentina Open.
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"All titles are special, but I'm really happy because I have not been a champion for a long time," said Nadal, according to atpworldtour.com. "Against [Monaco], I played my best of the week. That is great news for me because I'm trying to gain more confidence."
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Nadal hasn't had a lot of time on the court as he finally his healed after myriad injuries in 2014, capped off by surgery for appendicitis at the end of the year.
The 28-year-old Spaniard won his 65th career title - surpassing another pair of tennis legends in Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg - for fifth place on the Open Era titles list. He is 34 titles shy of Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 109.
"They have an impressive history," Nadal said of Sampras and Borg. "That's why it is an honor to be compared to them."
It was Nadal's 93rd ATP final, leaving him 33 shy of Federer.
"I had the hope of winning here and I prepared very well for this so it's objective achieved," the nine-time French Open champion said, according to BBC.com.
It hasn't been often enough recently for Nadal to be able to prepare very well for tournaments because of his injuries. A back injury at the 2014 Australian Open finals - a four-set loss to Stan Wawrinka - affected Nadal's early 2014.
After winning his ninth French Open, Nadal suffered a wrist injury that forced him to miss the U.S. Open. He then pulled out of the ATP World Tour Finals because of his appendicitis.
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