Rafael Nadal secured its fourth Davis Cup victory, Nadal defeated Jan Hájek in the first Davis Cup dead rubber of his career. Nadal finished the year as No. 2 for the fourth time in five years. Nadal won the Golden Bagel Award for the third time in 2009, with nine 6–0 sets during the year. Nadal began the year by participating in the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. In the final, Nadal defeated Robin Söderling in straight sets. Nadal participated in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, where he lost in the finals to Nikolay Davydenko. In
2008 Rafael Nadal tennis season the history of the sport. This win also catapulted Nadal to the top of the rankings for the first time in his career. Nadal then made his second hard-court Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, before losing to Andy Murray in four tight sets. He then helped guide Spain into the Davis Cup Final, notching up wins over Sam Querrey and Andy Roddick. Nadal ended the year as World #1. Nadal began the year by participating in the Chennai Open in Chennai, India. Nadal defeated Carlos Moyá in the semi-finals in (at the time) the longest three-set match in