Barcelona Open

Rafael Nadal is in the middle of another dominant season on European clay courts, and his rivals don’t see his level dropping off anytime soon.

Nadal beat David Ferrer 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 Sunday to win the Barcelona Open for the fourth straight year. A week ago, he captured his fourth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title on clay. Next up is the Rome Masters, which begins Monday with Nadal again attempting to make it 4-for-4.

Rafael Nadal held off a stirring fightback from David Ferrer to beat his fellow Spaniard 6-1 4-6 6-1 and become the first man to win the Barcelona Open in four consecutive years.

Top seed Rafael Nadal will meet David Ferrer in an all-Spanish showdown at the Barcelona Open after contrasting semi-final victories on Saturday.
Nadal produced a claycourt masterclass to demolish German Denis Gremelmayr 6-1 6-0 while Ferrer had to work much harder to tame big-hitting Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 6-3.

World number two Nadal, trying to win the title for the fourth successive year, was in irrepressible form as he raced to victory over Gremelmayr in 50 minutes.

Top seed Rafael Nadal produced a claycourt masterclass to demolish German Denis Gremelmayr 6-1 6-0 to reach the final of the Barcelona Open.

Rafael Nadal is storming toward another Open Sabadell Atlantico championship.

The top-seeded Spaniard advanced to the semifinals of the claycourt event Friday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

Nadal is gunning for an unprecedented fourth consecutive title here and the 21-year-old hasn’t been met with much resistance.

He has won 18 straight matches at this $1.39 million tournament and has taken 23 consecutive sets dating to 2006.

Second seed David Ferrer came through his second tough battle in as many days to reach the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open with a 7-6 6-4 win over Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo on Friday.

The world number five, pushed hard by Ecuadorian Nicolas Lapentti in the previous round, battled past the sixth seed in a match lasting two hours, five minutes.

He will play 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka for a place in the final after the Swiss fought off the challenge of another Spaniard, Albert Montanes, 6-3 6-7 6-4.

 Second seed David Ferrer came through a gruelling 4-6 6-4 6-3 struggle with Nicolas Lapentti to reach the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open on Thursday.

However, Argentine third seed David Nalbandian suffered a surprise 6-3 6-1 defeat by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

Spaniard Ferrer looked on course for a straightforward win when he led 3-0 in the first set but in the end it took him two hours, 31 minutes to wear down the Ecuadorian.

Rafael Nadal took his remarkable record to 100 wins in his last 101 matches on clay by beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-3 to reach the Barcelona Open quarter-finals.

 Rafael Nadal continued his storming spring with a win at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday but said he expects to eventually run out of gas due to a crowded clay season this Olympic year.

"It will be impossible for me to keep a top level over four straight weeks," said the three-time Roland Garros champion after producing a 6-4, 6-2 second-round defeat of Potito Starace.