It’s an all Spanish final in Barcelona!
No surprise about that. When on one side of the draw there is Rafa (he is not losing a match here since 2003) and David Ferrer (this will be his 4th final) you just expect that.
Nadal and Ferrer played each other 17 times. The record is 13-4 for Rafa. Ferrer managed to win only once on clay against the Mallorcan in Stuttgart in 2004 6-3 6-7 (3) 7-5. Rafa has alrady beaten Ferrer in 3 finals in Barcelona.
NADAL – VERDASCO 6-0 6-4
Another trash from Rafa to his dear friend. In a way Fernando should be happy to have snatched 4 games since the start of the match was ominous. Rafa got a “flashy” start to get to a 5-0 lead in 20 minutes (a record if you think about Rafa’s lenghty procedures) and the world nr.2 put in 100% of his first serve (!!!!) with Verdasco able to win only 6 points in total!
Then the match became “normal”. Rafa won the 1st set 6-0 to get the second 6-4. The record between the 2 players is now 13-0 for Rafa with Fernando not able to win a single set on clay with Mallorcan.
“I began the first set very strong, and getting the first break gave me a lot of confidence,” Nadal said. “He also made some errors early on which helped me.”
Talking about Ferrer, Rafa commented “David is always tough. He is a rival you never want to face,” Nadal said. “I wish him the best. Well … not for tomorrow, but for the rest of the season.”
FERRER – RAONIC 7-6 (2) 7-6 (5)
Raonic is playing a great tennis and he looks set to get into the top 10 as soon as possible. In this tournament he has already defeated great clay court players (Almagro ad Murray) and it was ready to have a fierce fight with Ferrer.
The match was a great 2 hours battle with both players at their best. Between the two there are 20cm (Ferrer is 1.75cm, Raonic 1.95) and that was clear. On one side we had a very nimble Ferrer chasing everything he could around the court. On the other we had a potent (but still a bit stiff) Canadian that was blasting whatever it could at the Spaniard (15 aces were part of the bombardment).
None of them was able to break the other, so the match was decided by 2 tie breaks. The first was an easy win for David (Milos didn’t played it very well). Ferrer was quite good at coming back from a 1-3 deficit in the 2nd tiebreak to win it at 5.
“It was very difficult to beat him,” Ferrer said. “We both had our chances. It was a question of winning or losing the key points. I’m very happy to make my fourth final,” the Spaniard added. “I have a special relationship with this tournament. I hope I can fulfill my dream of finally winning here.”
