So the final part of my ATP/WTA Barcelona Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix posts is here and it covers the finals of both tournaments, so why not start with the men.
In the men's final, we see two clay veterans take each other on, Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer, and it was quite a final, and easily the toughest match Rafa has played on clay this year so far. The first set featured some incredible tennis from the two men, and Ferrer being as dogged in defense as he possibly could, managed to stave off break points, as did Rafa, who himself had to fight off 5 set points, but ultimately managed to push the match into a tiebreak, which he domianted. In the 2nd set, Rafa got an early break against Ferrer's serve, however Ferrer was steely as ever and managed to break back and levelled the scores, until 5-6, on his serve, Ferrer finally gave in, handing the match and the championship over to his clay nemesis, after an exhausting and gruelling 2 hours and 40 minutes, in 7-6(1), 7-5.
I didn't catch all of the match but judging by the stats and the scoreline it was quite an encounter and more than a worthy final that kept the Spanish crowd enthralled. Ferrer gave his all in this match and you have feel for him as you would guess that this could have been one of his best chances of winning the title. But in the end you know there was only going to be one winner and that man is the king of clay, Rafa, who now has 48 titles to his name, and his 7th in Barcelona. So the clay season continues to look very good for Rafa, and with Madrid and Rome coming up he is still the hot favourite to win there, and yes Djokovic could defeat him, should he regroup, but I'm beginning to think otherwise, as Rafa really does appear to have gotten his mojo back, and looks very much the man to beat again. So we will see how the rest of the clay season pans out. In the meantime, a big well done to Rafa for his great victory and the rest of the season is looking pretty good for him.
So onto the ladies final in Stuttgart, which was between the two best players in the world, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. Azarenka given their recent matches was the favourite to win here, but Maria surprised us all by coming out really strong in the 1st set, serving superbly and crushing Azarenka's serve, breaking her twice to take the opening set. However it was revealed during the interval that Victoria had injured her wrist and had to have it re-taped before starting play again. But despite a shaky start on her serve, Victoria managed to makes things a bit more competitive and got herself into the 2nd set, by holding serve and putting a bit of pressure on Maria. But Maria never faltered on serve and at 3-3 all on Victoria's serve, she got the crucial break, and at 5-4, Maria seized the chance she was looking to finally get her first win of the year over her nemesis, and her first title in Stuttgart, with a 6-1, 6-4 win.
This was actually not too bad a final and I was pleasantly surprised to see Maria pull off the win, and I'm sure it was a much needed one, after the last two drubbings she faced at the hands of Victoria in Melbourne and Indian Wells. With Victoria being injured it looked fearful that she would be able to carry on, but she deserves credit for carrying on as well with the match and making it more of a contest in the 2nd set. Clearly however you could see how disappointed Victoria was when she lost and when accepting her runner up trophy, but hopefully she won't be a poor loser. ;-) As for Maria it was obvious delight that she was able to lift her first trophy of the year, and it was thoroughly well deserved. Its also the fourth clay court title she has won in her career, so it does really show that her game is well suited towards clay, and its a surface she can compete well on with any player. And at this rate you can't write off her chances in the French Open, as long as she doesn't double fault as much as she did last year!
Anyway that's it for now for the tennis posts, more will follow on other stuff, and more on the tennis stuff once Madrid starts off.
Till then that's ittt.
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