Rafael Nadal from Spain (right) enters the Mercedes-Benz C 350 which he won in the final of the Mercedes Cup ATP tennis tournament in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, yesterday. Nadal defeated Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland 6-4, 7-5. In the car is Kristina Hammer, representative of Mercedes-Benz.

STUTTGART, Germany (AP):

Rafael Nadal dropped serve three times yesterday and had to sweep five straight games to beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 7-5 to win the Mercedes Cup.

The top-seeded Spaniard hadn't previously dropped serve in the tournament, but he had to rally from 5-2 down in the second set to claim his sixth title this year and his 93rd win in 94 matches on clay.

He is now 23-5 in career finals, the highest winning percentage in the Open era.

"I had a little luck, but I'm very happy I played well here," Nadal said. "After losing the Wimble-don final to (Roger) Federer, it was hard to have a good tournament."

The 50th-ranked Wawrinka had only won one match in eight attempts heading into the tournament after returning in May from a knee injury.

"I had almost no self-confidence before coming into this tournament," Wawrinka said.

"I'm just enjoying it at the moment. I played a really good match against the best clay-court player in the world."

Wawrinka said he received a text message from Federer, who beat Nadal at Hamburg on May 20 for the Spaniard's only loss on clay in his long streak.

"He sent me an SMS about the final, but he didn't give me any advice about how to beat Nadal," Wawrinka said.