It will not only be the No. 1 vs. No. 2 seed on Sunday in Barcelona, but it will also be the two men who have dominated this tournament to the tune of 10 titles in the last 11 years. Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori will battle for a familiar winner’s trophy.
Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori will be squaring off for the 10th time in their careers and for the second time this season when they meet again in the title match of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday afternoon.
Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 8-1, including 2-0 on clay. In one of those clay-court showdowns, however, Nishikori seemed to be cruising to the 2014 Madrid title but ended up retiring in the third set because of a back injury. Nadal had previously trounced Nishikori on the slow stuff via a 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 scoreline at the 2013 French Open. They most recently faced each other earlier this spring in Indian Wells, where the Spaniard cruised 6-4, 6-3.
It is not often that Nadal goes up against a two-time defending champion of a clay-court tournament, but that will be the case in this one. After Nadal captured eight Barcelona titles in the span of nine seasons, Nishikori lifted the trophy in both 2014 and 2015. The world No. 6 is one victory from doing the same following straight-set defeats of Thiemo De Bakker, Jeremy Chardy, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Benoit Paire.
A resurgent Nadal will be No. 2 in the race to London on Monday and–as usually–he is looking especially impressive on clay. The top seed is coming off a much-needed title in Monte-Carlo, where Novak Djokovic lost early before Nadal took care of Andy Murray and Gael Monfils in the semis and final. Not looking back in Barcelona, Nadal punched his ticket to the championship match by beating Marcel Granollers, Albert Montanes, Fabio Fognini, and Philipp Kohlschreiber all in straight sets.
“Tomorrow I will play against one of the world’s best players and it will be complicated,” the world No. 5 assured. “I have to play a great match to win the final.”
The good news for Nadal is that it may not be as complicated as it could be on a fast hard court, such as the one on which Nishikori got the job done 6-2, 6-4 in last summer’s Montreal quarterfinals. Nishikori, who loves to take balls early, has a much easier time hitting through Nadal on a slicker surface. With his confidence regained and advantages in terms of both the surface and the crowd, Nadal should be able to hold off an in-form opponent.
Pick: Nadal in 3
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The acid test starts now. Will Rafa do this in straight sets. I’m not banking on it.
Oh no! Rafa let the shot go and it was in.
Break chances for Nishi.
Nishi breaks! I want to scream!
:/ That was poor judgement on that volley…the ball was coming slowly and he had plenty of time to judge… he just did not want to hit the volley it seemed…
4-3 ! Bad
Rafa only shaky today the three games after he broke serve.
That, and the excessive sweating in cool conditions tells me he is still anxious but just overall doing a better job of managing it than last year.
His remaining lack of consistencies nerves (anxiety) nothing more.
Come on Rafa!!!!
Very short return on the BP :/
WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! the side spin on that forehand DTL is SICKKKKKK!! it has to be the GOAT baseline stroke!!
Does anyone know how long Nishikori is taking between points? Too long IMO.
The chair umpire called him for a time violation.
Rafa seems intent on doing this the hard way.
totally!
This should have been over by now…. sighhh
anyway, COME ON RAFA!
Rafa, TAKE THE INITIATIVE! don’t wait for an error on MP
Tell me about it! But Rafa did not do enough and Nishi was the aggressive one.
Why can’t Rafa close out matches? This is maddening.
When Nishi is down he plays aggressively; when Rafa is ahead, Rafa plays tentatively.
So both do the samw thing essentially?
VAMOSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!
Rafa wins 64 75
Vamos Rafa!
YEAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! 9th title 😀 😀 😀 😀
Rafa in 2!! I called it baby! hahahahah
Five down ✌ ✌ ✌ ✌ ✌!
The last man standing takes the prize: Rafa lifts the Barcelona trophy for the 9th time !!!!!!!!!
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Vaaaaaaaaamooooooooos Raaaaaaaaafaaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!
Winning the title in Barcelona today means that Rafa is:
¤ the first man to win the Barcelona tournament 9 times;
¤ the first man to win 3 tournaments at least 9 times each (FO & MC Masters & Barcelona);
¤ now tied with Guillermo Vilas for most clay court titles (49) in the Open Era.
? to Rafa !!!!!!!!!
Yes! Phew! Finally! Congrats to Rafa and all of us his fans! VAMOS!
These matches just serve to toughen Rafa up. Heis verrrrrrrrry close to being the relentless Rafa we all know and love!
Vamos Rafa!