Rafael Nadal won on a hardcourt for the first time, beating 35-year-old Andre Agassi 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to win the Rogers Cup.The 19-year-old Spaniard left-handed shotmaking subdued Agassi, who was missing the lines in a baseline battle interrupted 58 minutes after the first set by rain.It was the top-seed’s third victory in a row and his ATP-leading ninth tournament win of the year. His eight previous wins, including the French Open, were on slower clay courts.“I don’t want to think about it because I always want to stay the same,” Nadal said of his breakthrough season. “I only want to think about next week. I’m happy I’ve won a Grand Slam, three Masters Series and five (other) tournaments, but I can’t think about that now. I’ll think about it at the end of the year.”French Open champ, who has a 16-match winning streak, won $400,000 of the 2.45 million purse while Agassi earned $200,000.Fourth-seeded Agassi, who was coming off a win in Los Angeles two weeks ago, ended a 10-match winning streak. It was the first meeting between Nadal and Agassi, who has won 60 tournaments, including eight Grand Slams and three wins in the Canadian event, in his 19-year career.The two had some spectacular rallies, with Nadal repeatedly running down crosscourt shots that appeared unreachable.Nadal had lost only one of 53 service games in the tournament going into the final, and held nine more times before Agassi broke his but precisely placed serve in the final game of the second set.But Nadal didn’t collapse, breaking a faltering Agassi for 2-1 and 4-1 leads in the final set.The 16-year age gap between finalists was the largest on the ATP Tour since 1979, when 35-year-old Tom Okker beat 19-year-old Per Hjertquist in Tel Aviv.Nadal, coming off wins at Bastad and Stuttgart, has not lost since falling to Gilles Muller of France in the second round at Wimbledon.
