Rafa Nadal equaled the record of 49 clay-court titles held by the great Guillermo Vilas, by clinching his ninth title at Barcelona. Nadal beat the defending champion Kei Nishikori 6-4 7-5.
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It was a close match with Kei having nine chances to break in the first set but Rafa managed to save eight of them, proving he was the better player mentally throughout this fixture. The double defending champion Nishikori staged a decent comeback in the second set after faltering behind 1-4 but couldn’t carry on the momentum to cause any serious damage.
Nadal now has 9 titles at three different tournaments, Monte Carlo and Roland Garros being the other two. It was his 69th career title in his 101st appearance in a final. Rafa’s fans took twitter to applaud their hero, many citing this comeback a much needed one before next month’s French Open. Here are some of the tweets.
https://twitter.com/Sabri_Sahid/status/724295878803087360
Unreal. #Rafa #kingofclay x.com/jmeistennis/st…
Most titles at a single tournament (Open Era) 9 - Rafael Nadal - Monte Carlo 9 - Rafael Nadal - Barcelona 9 - Rafael Nadal - Roland Garros
Love this feeling.. Keep them coming #Rafa..9th at #Barcelona.. #KingofClay is looking much much better than last yr
Rafa Nadal and the trophy which pined for him since he left her for 2 years. See how happy the trophy is? 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Rafa Nadal has now won 3 different clay court events 9 times.#kingofclay
Congratulations to @RafaelNadal who has won the @bcnopenbs title with a 64 75 win over Nishikori! x.com/bcnopenbs/stat…
Rafa Nadal gana el #bcnopenbs 6-4 7-5 a Kei Nishikori en 2:04h. ¡FELICIDADES RAFA! #VamosRafa #barcel9na
Congratulations @RafaelNadal on your second title on clay this year. Loving the clay season right now. 😊 Good luck in Madrid!
Last time when #Nadal won two titles in consecutive weeks was in 2013: Montreal & Cincinnati. Then he completed the hattrick with US Open.
🏆 ¡NADAL IS BACK! 🏆