FOXNews.com: Nadal wins seventh Barcelona title

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Nadal wins seventh Barcelona title Apr 29th 2012, 17:25 Barcelona, Spain –  Rafael Nadal continued his dominance on clay by beating No. 3 seed David Ferrer, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, to win the title at the Barcelona Open for a second straight year and seventh time overall. It was familiar territory for the two Spaniards, their fifth meeting in the event, including fourth time in the final and second year in a row. Having just won his eighth Monte Carlo title in a row, the world No. 2 Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win two ATP World Tour events seven times. He is now on a 34-match win streak in Barcelona, also winning the last 32 sets he's played in the tournament. The top seed moved to 14-4 lifetime against Ferrer and has won their last 11 clay court meetings. Nadal, of course, is the "King of Clay." Of his 48 career titles, a whopping 34 have come on the surface. He has a 21-match winning streak on clay since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Rome final last May. Nadal has won an astounding 77 straight matches on the surface in April. Nadal saved five set points in the 12th game of the opening set, first with a blistering forehand down the line, then when Ferrer hit a return long, a return into the net, and another ball wide after a long rally. Nadal then fired an ace to fend off the fifth set point chance and got the advantage with an overhead slam before forcing the tiebreak when Ferrer's backhand went wide. A bevy of unforced errors was the downfall for Ferrer in the tiebreaker, when he lost the final six points. Nadal broke Ferrer's serve to move to a 3-1 lead in the second set and was poised to take a commanding advantage, but failed on his chance. Nadal fended off three break point chances, but then gave it away when he banged a return into the net despite having a wide-open court. Ferrer caught a break when Nadal double-faulted. That gave Ferrer a 5-4 edge, but he failed to cash in during his service game thanks to more miscues, most notably a poor slam that gave Nadal an opening for a solid return. Nadal held serve for a 6-5 lead and then ended the match with a blistering backhand winner to capture the $398,000 first-place prize. It was a case of missed opportunities for Ferrer, who went 3-of-15 on break point chances. Going after his 15th career title, Ferrer was in his fourth final of the year. He won titles in Auckland, Buenos Aires and Acapulco before the first week of March had concluded. He was a surprise loser in his first match last week in Monte Carlo, falling to Thomaz Bellucci. This was the 10th straight year a Spaniard has won the Barcelona title.

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