![\"\"](\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Nadal-300x171.jpg\")
Sports Desk: Rafael Nadal won his 12th Barcelona Open title, saving a match point in a thrilling three-set victory over Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas.<\/p>\nSports Desk: Rafael Nadal won his 12th Barcelona Open title, saving a match point in a thrilling three-set victory over Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas.<\/p>\n
Nadal trailed 4-2 in the opener but recovered, breaking twice to take it.<\/p>\n
World number five Tsitsipas showed great grit in the second set, saving two match points in game 10 game before levelling the match on a tie-break.<\/p>\n
In a tight third set, Nadal faced a match point before piling on the pressure to win 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-5.<\/p>\n
The victory, which took three hours 38 minutes, gave the 34-year-old his 61st clay court title and came against an in-form opponent who had won his maiden Masters crown in Monte Carlo last week.<\/p>\n
“Winning the trophy here means a lot,” said Nadal, who had only lost one set in 11 previous finals in the Spanish city.<\/p>\n
“I have been increasing my level and this was an important victory for me.”<\/p>\n
Tsitsipas, who recovered from two sets down to beat Nadal at February's Australian Open, started this match strongly before the Spaniard turned the opening set around.<\/p>\n
Nadal again came from a break down in the second set after Tsitsipas had regrouped well.<\/p>\n
That took him to the brink of victory on the court named after him but Tsitsipas showed his own mettle to stay in the contest, recovering from 15-40 at 4-5 with two fine points, including a lovely touch volley winner on the second.<\/p>\n
A topsy-turvy tie-break saw Nadal lead 4-2 then save two set points from 4-6 only to serve a double fault at 6-6 that helped Tsitsipas clinch it.<\/p>\n
The third set was serve dominated until 4-5, when Nadal wobbled on his own delivery, but ultimately it was the Spaniard who proved just the tougher.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in the Belgrade clay court final, Italy's Matteo Berrettini won his fourth career title.<\/p>\n
The world number 10 beat Russia's Aslan Karatsev, who had stunned Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-0).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sports Desk: Rafael Nadal won his 12th Barcelona Open title, saving a match point in a thrilling three-set victory over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas. Nadal trailed 4-2 in the opener but recovered, breaking twice to take it. World number five Tsitsipas showed great grit in the second set, saving two match points in game 10 game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n