Rafael Nadal Beats David Ferrer For Seventh Barcelona Crown

Written by: Staff on 29th April 2012

Rafael Nadal Beats David Ferrer For Seventh Barcelona Crown

epa03197049 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Colombia's Robert Farah during their third round match at the Conde de Godo tennis tournament in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, 26 April 2012. Nadal won 6-2 and 6-3. EPA/ALBERTO ESTEVEZ |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/04/17/Barcelona-Sunday-Nadal-Wins-Seventh-Title.aspx)

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal captured the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell trophy for the seventh time on Sunday as he defeated fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6(1), 7-5 in the final. He was contesting his 69th tour-level final and won his 48th title.

It is the fourth time that Nadal has beaten Ferrer in the final of this ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament. He has won his past 34 matches at the event and lifted the trophies from 2005-2009 and 2011-2012.

Victory marked Nadal’s second ATP World Tour title in as many weeks. Last week he ended a 10-month title drought by winning his eighth successive Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters trophy (d. Djokovic). He is the first player in the Open Era to win two ATP World Tour tournaments seven times.

The 25-year-old Nadal is on a 21-match winning streak on clay since losing to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia last May. He bounced back from that defeat to win his 10th Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros (d. Federer).

World No. 6 Ferrer was bidding to win his fourth ATP World Tour title of the season, following victory in Auckland (d. Rochus) and two wins on clay in Buenos Aires (d. Almagro) and Acapulco (d. Verdasco). The 30 year old had saved three match points to edge Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals and overcame Milos Raonic in two tie-breaks in the semi-finals.

It is the 12th time in 13 attempts that Ferrer has lost to a Top 10 player in an ATP World Tour final; he dropped to a 14-15 record in title matches.

Topics: ATP World Tour 500 clay-court, Barcelona tennis news, David Ferrer, deportes, notices sobre el tennis español, Rafa, Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis news, Sports