© 2012 Daily Tennis News Wire -
Barcelona Open
Barcelona
Sunday Summary


Singles - Final: (1) R Nadal def. (3) D Ferrer 7-6(7-1) 7-5
David Ferrer really should have won the second set of this. He was up 5-4 and serving -- and not only was he broken, he lost the next two games as well. It kind of makes you wonder if Rafael Nadal doesn't have some sort of "wilt ray" he uses on his opponents in times of stress. It earned him his seventh title here.
In terms of rankings, it doesn't matter much. Nadal stays at #2 and Ferrer at #6. But let's look at where the top guys stand in the Race:
Djokovic: 4140
Nadal: 3510
Federer: 2855
Murray: 2150
Ferrer: 1895
Berdych: 1375
Tsonga: 1060
So we suddenly see Nadal emerging as a genuine threat to Novak Djokovic. And we also see David Ferrer threatening Andy Murray. The latter probably won't last -- but things are a lot more interesting than they were just two weeks ago....

Doubles - Final: (4) Fyrstenberg/Matkowski def. Granollers/M Lopez 2-6 7-6(9-7) 10-8 (Match TB)
This took almost two hours -- very long for a no-ad doubles match -- and involved multiple match points and ended with Granollers/Lopez having won 53% of the total points. Whew!
The Poles must have been thrilled. It is their first title since Eastbourne 2010 -- and their first title above the 250 point level since Madrid 2008. True, they have made the U. S. Open final since then -- but they lost that. So this is their best title in three and a half years. A nice way to end a slump.