Barcelona Sunday Preview - Top Two Spaniards Square Off In Final

© Manuel QueimadelosRafael Nadal is a sparkling 30-2 in clay court finals.

Spain’s two highest-ranked players on the ATP World Tour, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer - have continued to dominate the start of the European clay season, and will meet in the final of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday. This is their second straight final meeting and fifth overall (Nadal 4-0).

The home country has dominated this tournament, with this being the ninth straight year a Spaniard will capture the title (Carlos Moya in 2003, Tommy Robredo in 2004, Nadal from 2005-09, Fernando Verdasco in 2010). The last non-Spaniard to win here was Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio in 2002. This is also the fifth time in the past seven years it’s an all-Spanish final, all involving Nadal.

World No. 1 Nadal, a five-time champion at this event (winning it five straight years from 2005 to 2009), has lost only 15 games en route to this year’s final, beating one seed along the way, No. 7 seed Gael Monfils (he won handily, 62 62). His semi-final win over Ivan Dodig was his 500th career match win, making him the second-youngest man ever to reach that milestone (after Bjorn Borg).Nadal is 44-15 in ATP World Tour finals, including an all-time best 30-2 record in clay court finals.

World No. 6 Ferrer, seeded No. 4 and a two-time finalist at this event (finishing runner-up to Nadal in 2008 and 2009), has also been stingy this week, losing just 22 games en route to the final, beating back-to-back seeds in the last two rounds (63 63 over No. 6 seed Jurgen Melzer in the quarter-finals and 63 64 over No. 8 seed Nicolas Almagro in the semi-finals). Ferrer was very happy about his win over Almagro, who will break into the Top 10 on Monday: “Nicolas is going through a good moment but I played really well, maybe it was my best match of the week. I’m in good form and playing with a lot of confidence.” Ferrer is 11-11 in ATP World Tour finals, including a 6-8 record in clay court finals.

Nadal leads Ferrer in their head-to-head series, 12-4, which includes a 9-1 record on clay, winning nine times in a row on clay, also winning 19 of their last 20 sets on the surface. Just last week, Nadal prevailed against his countryman, 64 75, in the final of Monte-Carlo. Ferrer said he is up for the challenge: “Rafa is the best clay court player in the history of the game,” he said after his semi-final win. “I will try and do better than last week, play my best tennis and fight until the end.”

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner:  € 290,000 and 500 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up: € 145,750 and 300 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Nadal: Appearing in his 60th ATP World Tour level final (44-15 record in finals)   
Appearing in his 33rd clay court final (30-2 in finals)
Ferrer: Appearing in his 23rd ATP World Tour final (11-11 finals record)   
Appearing in his 15th clay court final (He is 6-8 in those finals)

2011 ATP World Tour Match Wins Leaders – The top three Spanish players, led by Nadal and Ferrer, are the ATP World Tour match wins leaders this season:

                                W-L         Titles
1) Rafael Nadal      28-4         1
2) David Ferrer       25-5         2
    Nicolas Almagro    25-7          2
4) Novak Djokovic      24-0         4
    Roger Federer        24-5         1

All-Spanish Barcelona Finals -- This is the ninth all-Spanish final in Barcelona in the Open Era, the fifth involving Nadal:
2011 -- Nadal vs. Ferrer
2009 -- Nadal d. Ferrer 62 75
2008 -- Nadal d. Ferrer 61 46 61
2006 -- Nadal d. Tommy Robredo 64 64 60
2005 -- Nadal d. Juan Carlos Ferrero 61 76(4) 63
2001 -- Ferrero d. Carlos Moya 46 75 63 36 75
1997 -- Albert Costa d. Albert Portas 75 64 64
1991 -- Emilio Sanchez d. Sergi Bruguera 64 76(7) 62
1969 -- Manuel Orantes d. Manuel Santana 64 75 64
 
Mr. April on Clay – Nadal has won 66 straight matches on clay in the month of April. During his clay court streak in April he has won 11 titles – seven in Monte-Carlo and four in Barcelona. His last loss on clay in April came on Apr. 8, 2005 to Igor Andreev in the quarter-finals of Valencia

Open Era Clay Court Title Leaders – Nadal is attempting to move to No. 3 all alone in the Open Era clay court titles leaders list:
                                                                  No.
1) Guillermo Vilas                                       45
2) Thomas Muster                                      40
3) Bjorn Borg, Manuel Orantes, Nadal   30
6) Ivan Lendl, Ilie Nastase                         28
8) Jose-Luis Clerc                                       21
9) Mats Wilander                                        20
10)Andres Gomez, Carlos Moya                 16

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FED-EX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS –

(1)Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs (4) David Ferrer (ESP)  Nadal Leads 12-4
04 Stuttgart (Germany) Clay QF David Ferrer 6-3 6-7(3) 7-5
05 ATP Masters Series Miami (U.S.A.) Hard SF Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-3
05 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 4-6 6-4 7-5
05 Roland Garros (France) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-2 6-0
07 Barcelona (Spain) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-1
07 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R16 David Ferrer 6-7(3)6-4 7-6(4) 6-2
07 Tennis Masters Cup (China) Hard RR David Ferrer 4-6 6-4 6-3
08 ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo  Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-1 7-5
08 Barcelona (Spain) Clay F Rafael Nadal 6-1 4-6 6-1
09 Barcelona (Spain) Clay F Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-5
09 ATP Masters 1000 Montreal Hard R32 Rafael Nadal 4-3 ret
10 ATP Masters 1000 Miami  Hard R16 Rafael Nadal 7-6(5) 6-4
10 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo  Clay SF Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-3
10 ATP  Masters 1000 Rome (Italy) Clay F Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-2
11 Australian Open (Australia) Hard QF David Ferrer 6-4 6-2 6-3
11 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo  Clay F Rafael Nadal 6-4 7-5

                                           Rafael Nadal     David Ferrer
 Sets Won:                            27                   12
 Tiebreak Sets Won:               3                     1
 Match Wins By Surface:
 Clay:                                       9                     1
 Hard:                                      3                     3

Nadal FastFacts:    
2011 Highlights:
W: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (d Ferrer); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Djokovic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Djokovic); SF: Doha (l Davydenko); QF: Aust. Open (l Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 28-4 (9-0 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 44
Date of Birth: June 3, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 1

• Nadal, 24, the five-time champion (2005-09), has a 29-1 career match record in Barcelona, winning 28 matches in a row since his only loss to countryman Alex Corretja in the second round in 2003…Has lost only 15 games in four matches en route to the final…Leads the tourn. in return games won (20 of 32, 63%) and No. 2 in service games won (28 of 31, 90%) and No. 3 in 2nd serve points won (62%)
• The World No. 1 comes in with a 28-4 mark on the season and he’s appearing in his fourth straight final…He was runner-up in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 stops in Indian Wells and Miami, falling in three sets to Novak Djokovic both times...Last Sunday he earned his seventh straight title in Monte-Carlo (d. Ferrer) and 30th career on clay
• Has a 33-match winning streak on clay since a 4th Rd. loss to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros in 2009 and has won 74 of 77 sets…It’s his third streak of 30 or more wins on clay (81, 33)
• He comes in with 500 career match wins (500-105) and ranked No. 1 for 92nd overall week, 46 in a row since June 7, 2010 (after winning Roland Garros for fifth time in six years)…At 24 years, 10 months, he is the second-youngest to win 500 matches, only behind Bjorn Borg (23 years, 7 months)
• He is appearing in his 60th career final on the ATP World Tour and owns a 44-15 record in title matches (30-2 on clay)…He is 9-0 against Spaniards in ATP World Tour finals and is tied with Thomas Muster for 12th place in the Open Era titles list

Ferrer FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Auckland (d Nalbandian); Acapulco (d Almagro); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); SF: Australian Open (l Murray); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Fish)
YTD W-L: 25-5 (13-1 on clay)
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 11
Date of Birth: April 2, 1982
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 6

• Ferrer, 29, enters his third final in four years in Barcelona with a 21-8 career mark…He was runner-up to Nadal in 2008-09 (also semi-finalist in 2007 and last year)…He and Nadal have not dropped a set en route to the final and leads the tournament in service games won (34 of 36, 94%), break points saved (11 of 13, 85%) and No. 2 in first serve points won (78%)…Has won 14 of 34 return games (41%)
• The No. 2 Spaniard (behind Nadal) is off to a 25-5 start this season, including 13-1 on clay, winning a pair of ATP World Tour titles, in Auckland (d. Nalbandian) in January and Acapulco (d. Almagro) in February…He is coming off a runner-up at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal)
• Has an 11-11 career mark in ATP World Tour finals (6-8 on clay)
• He is 3-2 vs. Top 10 opponents this season and he’s 31-56 lifetime

Six-Pack of Winners – Nadal is trying to become the first  player in the Open Era to win two tournaments at least six times. Here are the players to win at least six titles:

                                        Tournament        No.
Nadal, Rafael                  Monte Carlo        7 (in a row)
Sampras, Pete                  Wimbledon          7
Vilas, Guillermo                Buenos Aires        7
Agassi, Andre                  Miami                    6
Borg, Bjorn                      Roland Garros       6
Federer, Roger                Wimbledon            6
Lendl, Ivan                      Canada                 6
Taroczy, Balazs               Hilversum              6
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Nadal, Rafael                 Barcelona            5

DOUBLES PREVIEW – BRYANS LOOK FOR FOURTH TITLE IN 2011 VS.  UNSEEDED FIRST-TIME DUO
• World No. 1 and two-time Barcelona champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan take on the unseeded first-time duo of Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Scott Lipsky of the U.S. in Sunday’s doubles final.
• The Bryans are attempting to capture their fourth  title of the season, the third in as many weeks, after winning a third straight crown at the Australian Open in January, in Houston two weeks ago and Monte-Carlo last week. They also were finalists in Sydney.
• This is the Bryans' third career final in Barcelona after capturing titles in 2003 and ’08. They have a 14-2 career mark in Barcelona.
• The Bryans have a 70-39 career record in doubles finals and last year they finished as the No. 1 team for a record sixth time in the past eight years.
• Gonzalez and Lipsky have taken out two seeded teams en route to the final, No. 3 Melzer-Zimonjic and No. 2 Mirnyi-Nestor
• Gonzalez is Mexico’s No. 1 in both singles and doubles, is in his third career ATP World Tour doubles final (he is 1-1 in his first two, both w/Rettenmaier - won 2010 Belgrade, runners-up at 2010 Newport)
• Lipsky, who hasn’t played an ATP World Tour main draw in singles in almost three years but is ranked No. 40 in doubles, is in his 12th ATP World Tour doubles final (he has a 5-6 mark)