Nadal beats Ferrer
Rafael Nadal beats David Ferrer to win Barcelona Open
A week on from securing his eighth Monte Carlo Masters,
Nadal overcame third seed Ferrer 7-6 (7-1) 7-5 in two hours
40 minutes of gruelling tennis.
The top seed saved five set points to take the opener before
battling past his fellow Spaniard in a taxing second.World
number two Nadal becomes the first man in the
Open era to capture two ATP events at least seven
times.
"This is the hardest match I had on clay court this season,
David always takes you to the limit," Nadal told Spanish TV.
"A bit of it was lottery, luck fell on my side today."
The victory was the perfect way to mark the 10th anniversary
of his first match on the main tour.
On 29 April 2002 Nadal beat Ramon Delgado 6-4 6-4 in Mallorca,
and exactly a decade later he collected the 48th title of his career.
Nadal, 25, overturned an early break of serve before saving a break
point in game six and bringing up one of his own in game 11
.But Ferrer was equal to the task and not only held firm but
earned himself a glorious opportunity at 6-5.
He had five opportunities to take the opening set but Nadal
showed incredible defensive skills in forcing a tie-break.
After mini-breaks were exchanged, Ferrer sent down a
double-fault to hand over the momentum and he was
duly punished.
Nadal was now regularly hitting the lines and when he
broke to move 3-1 ahead in the second set, the
finishing line was in sight.
However, Ferrer hit straight back and the crowd were
in raptures as a Nadal double-fault meant Ferrer
would serve for the set at 5-4.
But his game capitulated at the worst possible
moment and a forehand sailed wide to squander
the chance.
Nadal held for 6-5 and then broke to love for a
fine victory that improves his head-to-head against Ferrer to 14-4.
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