Rafael Nadal lost an opportunity to earn his first Shanghai Rolex Masters title on Sunday against Roger Federer and a chance to extend his 16-match winning streak. But after capturing titles at the US Open and last week’s China Open, the Spaniard was not devastated.

“I played a fantastic tournament, having very good wins. Very pleased the way I played the whole Asian tour for me, whole China tour. Beijing, Shanghai have been a very positive two weeks for me,” Nadal said. “A lot of points, a lot of victories against great opponents. I come back with very good personal satisfaction the way that I played.”

Nadal earned his 11th and 12th victories of the season against the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week in Shanghai, beating No. 8 Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals before ousting No. 5 Marin Cilic in the semis. But sometimes an opponent simply plays too well on a given day. And while Nadal was disappointed to lose his third final of the year against Federer, all he could do is give his rival his due.

“When somebody plays better than you, sport is not very difficult,” Nadal said. “When you play against somebody that is better than you in most of the things that really matters on this sport in this kind of surface, then it’s tougher. There is room to improve for me, and I’m going to try. But the conditions here were much better for him than for me, being honest.”

Federer broke in the first game of the match and never looked back, going through the 71-minute clash without facing break point himself. The Swiss dropped just eight points on serve.

“He played so well, I think,” Nadal admitted. “Yeah, I could do maybe some things better, but that’s it. Just he played too good. That’s my point of view. So congrats to him.”

The loss does not take away from what has been a resurgent 2017 for Nadal, winning two Grand Slams, two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, six titles overall and reclaiming the top spot in the rankings as he seeks to finish atop the standings for the first time since 2013, and the fourth time in his career. The 31 year old still leads Federer by 1,960 points in the rankings.

Nadal was unable to win for the first time in Shanghai, but it was not for lack of effort.

“I just play every tournament with as high motivation as possible. Would not be fair I play here with higher motivation than in Monte-Carlo because I didn’t win here and I won in Monte-Carlo 10 times,” Nadal said. “Every time I go on court I try my best. I try to play as good as I can. Sometimes I play better; sometimes I play worse. That’s all. Shanghai is an important event. I always put attention in this event. It’s true that I was not able to play as good as I would like here that often, but I already play two finals, couple of semi-finals. So was not a bad event.”

Despite Sunday’s loss, Nadal has proven he is in good form and will look to take that into the final month of the season to finish 2017 on a high note.

High-quality tennis was on display throughout the week at the Copa San Cristobal in Buenos Aires, with six of the eight seeds reaching the quarter-finals. While the $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event is set to culminate on Sunday with an all-Argentine affair – top seed Horacio Zeballos battling third seed Nicolas Kicker – the action off the court was just as entertaining.

Challenger stars traded their racquets for paintbrushes during the player party, joining renowned artist Milo Lockett to support Foundation Red en Juego. Zeballos, Kicker, Federico Delbonis, Federico Coria, Maximo Gonzalez and Carlos Berlocq attended the fundraising event.

“We did something new in tennis during the inaugural tournament party,” said Zeballos. “There was an important artist Milo Lockett and we had a great time with him. Some players painted with him and it was a great opportunity. Hopefully we can repeat it next year.”

Red en Juego is a tennis programme that takes place in impoverished neighbourhoods of Argentina, aiming to offer children and adolescents the chance to engage in the sport. It allows them to build various life skills, including personal relationships.

It is only fitting that the penultimate ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the calendar is down to the players who have dominated the tour all year.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will attempt to extend his 16-match winning streak Sunday in pursuit of his first Shanghai Rolex Masters title in the final against World No. 2 Roger Federer. Nadal is trying to earn a record 31st Masters 1000 title, which would break his tie with Novak Djokovic at 30 each. A victory will almost guarantee that the Spaniard closes the year with the No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking for the fourth time, as he would own a 2,760-point lead over Federer. The Swiss seeks to narrow the gap in the race for the year-end No. 1 as well as earn his second trophy in Shanghai, which would give him his 350th Masters 1000 victory.

The Nadal-Federer rivalry is being renewed for a 38th time in the first Chinese final between the Top 2 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings since Beijing in 2013.

This is the rivals’ fourth meeting of the season, with Federer trying to win his fifth match in a row against Nadal dating back to Basel in 2015. He beat the Spaniard in the final at the Australian Open and the Miami Open, while also defeating him in the Round of 16 at BNP Paribas Open.

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Titles Leaders

Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 23-14 (Federer leads 10-9 on hard courts), but the Swiss has won the past four matches, a first for him in the rivalry. The 36 year old has also captured the past five sets in the matchup, the first time he has done that as well. He says that despite the overall head-to-head record, Nadal has made him a better player.

“I don’t want to thank him for that, but he made me maybe rework my game and go back to the practice courts and think about what I could change maybe to become a better player,” Federer said. “I think for that I’m happy about the losses I took. Took them on the chin and kept moving forward. It’s nice at this late stage of the career that we still have these matches going on.”

Federer is making his third appearance in the Shanghai final (1-1) and his first since winning the 2014 title (d. Simon). He was also a finalist in 2010 (l. to Murray). Federer is 5-1 in finals this season and is competing in his 143rd final (93-49).

Most FedEx ATP Head2Head Meetings

Federer’s next title will tie Ivan Lendl for second place on the Open Era titles list with 94 (Jimmy Connors holds the record with 109). He already owns the most Masters 1000 wins with 349 and is No. 3 in Masters 1000 titles with 26 behind Nadal and Djokovic. Federer is 9-1 this season against Top 10 opponents with his only loss coming in the Coupe Rogers final against Alexander Zverev.

Nadal is 14-9 in finals against the Swiss and owns a 12-6 advantage in Masters 1000 tournaments (7-4 in finals). The Spaniard is appearing in his second Shanghai final, his first since the 2009 inaugural tournament (l. to Davydenko). The 31 year old is playing in his 10th final (6-3) of the season, which leads the tour. This is the fifth time the left-hander has appeared in at least 10 finals in a season, the first since 2013 when he reached a career-high 14 finals (10-4).

On Sunday, Nadal plans on focusing on maintaining his own level, which helped him regain the No. 1 ranking this season.

“I’m going to do my thing. I know what I have to do. I know it’s very difficult, and especially in this kind of surface. But the most important thing for me is play at my highest level,” Nadal said. “If that happens, I hope to have my chances. If that doesn’t happen, the chances will be much less. But I am playing well, and I am focused on trying to make that happen.”

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays