Rafael Nadal won his first grass-court final since 2010 with a straight-sets victory over Viktor Troicki in Stuttgart.

The Spaniard prevailed 7-6, 6-3 to win his third title in the German city. The two previous triumphs, in 2005 and 2007, came when the tournament was held on clay but the 29-year-old showed he is finding his feet on grass before Wimbledon by cruising past his Serbian opponent to win the Mercedes Cup.

Nadal, who had no aces in his semi-final win over Gaël Monfils, ended the first-set tiebreak against Troicki with his ninth ace of the match. He also saved the only break point he faced.

Playing with evident confidence against the No8 seed, Nadal converted his first opportunity to go 3-1 up in the second set and he served out the win in one hour and 27 minutes. “I’m really, really happy. It’s my second win this year and it gives me a lot of confidence,” said Nadal, after his 66th career title and fourth on grass. “It was a great week for me.”

The former world No1 was made to work hard against Bernard Tomic and Marcos Baghdatis in the early rounds but improved as the tournament progressed and looks to be in good shape for the All England Club. The Stuttgart tournament made the switch to grass this year to become a Wimbledon warm-up event.

Nadal, a 14-times grand slam winner, maintained his unbeaten record against Troicki with his fifth win over the Serb, who is ranked No28 in the world. Nadal will return to grass for the Aegon Championships at Queen’s, which begins on Monday.

Nicolas Mahut won his third career title after beating David Goffin 7-6, 6-1 in the final of the Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Holland.