Twelfth title in Barcelona - Rafael Nadal beats Stefanos Tsitsipas after thriller
Rafael Nadal has won the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona for the twelfth time. Nadal defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final after a thriller of 3:38 hours and defense of a match point 6: 4, 6: 7 (6) and 7: 5.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 25, 2021, 07:53 pm
Tsitsipas got into the match better, taking Nadal's serve to make it 2-1. A few minutes later, however, she failed to pull away to 4: 1 with the next break. Instead, Nadal struck back in the eighth game, leveling it 4: 4. In the next game, Tsitsipas could not use his chances again, Nadal thanked him politely and got the first act with the next break. And thus inflicted the first set loss of the entire tournament week on Tsitsipas.
However, he showed great resilience and also took the lead in the second set with the break to 2-1. This time Nadal made the comeback to 3: 3, supported by some rather simple mistakes by his opponent. And again it looked like the tenth game of Stefanos Tsitsipas would break the neck. Nadal saw himself at an advantage of 15:40 when the Greek served. The man from Athens fended off the first match ball with a courageous attack, the second with a soulful volley.
Tsitsipas then missed three opportunities to break into the lead again. A tiebreak had to bring the decision. Nadal made the first point as a setback to make it 4-2, Tsitsipas equalized with a sensational stop. And immediately followed up with the mini-break. With a score of 6: 4, Tsitsipas had all the trumps in hand, but this time Nadal ran into the stop of his opponent. The 6: 6 got a forehand shot by the local hero. A double fault from Nadal later, Tsitsipas found his third set point. Which he also used.
Nadal clearly leads in the balance sheet
In the decision it was for the first time on this Sunday afternoon Tsitsipas who was able to advance again and again with the serve. What worked wonderfully up to 5: 4, but also the eleven-time tournament winner always followed suit. Then Nadal made a forehand error - and Stefanos Tsitsipas had his first match point. But Nadal was able to parry. The equalizer to 5: 5 succeeded with a magical volley stop. And then the Spanish grandmaster turned up - supported by a frame ball and a double fault from Tsitsipas, he got two break balls. And a third. The fourth finally sat - because Tsitsipas put a forehand out of bounds.
Was that too much, even for Stefanos Tsitsipas? After 3:35 hours of play, the Greek still had a break chance. But Nadal got everything out of her again and used his third match point.
The reissue of the 2018 final was much closer than the match three years ago. At that time, Nadal had only left his opponent three games. Nevertheless: The big champion in Catalonia remains Rafael Nadal, who scored 7-2 wins against Stefanos Tsitsipas. The good news for both finalists: Both Nadal and Tsitsipas will have peace in the coming weeks - only then will the two of them continue at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.
The doubles title went to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who were able to assert themselves 6: 4 and 6: 2 in the final against Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau.
Here the single tableau in Barcelona
barcamap