Rafael Nadal powered to a record-extending 11th Monte Carlo Masters title by brushing aside an outclassed Kei Nishikori in Sunday's final to retain the world No 1 ranking. The 31-year-old saw off Nishikori 6-3, 6-2 to become the first man to win a single tournament 11 times in the Open era with his 76th ATP Tour title in 93 minutes.
Nadal's 31st Masters title is also an outright record, pulling him out of a tie with Novak Djokovic.
"We've had some tough moments over these last five months," said Nadal, who was playing at his first ATP event since retiring from an Australian Open quarterfinal against Marin Cilic with a hip injury in January.
"I'll enjoy the moment and then tomorrow we'll start to think about the next tournament. But now I'll enjoy winning a Masters 1000 tournament which doesn't happen every day."
The 16-time Grand Slam champion's era of utter dominance on clay looks unlikely to end any time soon after Nadal took his run of consecutive sets won on the surface to 36.
Nadal had to win the tournament to remain at the top of the world rankings ahead of Roger Federer, who is skipping the clay-court season, and he did just that without losing more than five games in a match.
The Spaniard will next set his sights on an 11th Barcelona Open victory next week, and it is hard to see anyone preventing him from extending his record number of 10 French Open titles at Roland Garros at the end of the clay-court season.
He was pushed by Japan's Nishikori early on and fell a break down, but roared back against an opponent who already appeared beaten midway through the first set.
It was still an excellent week for former world No 4 Nishikori, who only returned from a four-month absence with a right wrist injury in January and will rise from his current ranking of 36 to the brink of the top 20.
