Nadal extends his reign on clay
PLISKOVA OVERCOMES SLOW START TO DEFEAT VANDEWEGHE AND WIN THE STUTTGART GP
Rafael Nadal continued his dominance on clay with a 6-2, 6-1 win over 19-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas yesterday to win his 11th Barcelona Open title.
Nadal, who also won his 11th Monte Carlos Masters title last week, was never seriously challenged on his way to a 19th straight victory on clay.
The top-ranked Spaniard has won 46 straight sets on clay, extending his own record. He hasn’t lost on the surface since facing Dominic Thiem in Rome last year.
Nadal, who won his 400th match on clay in Saturday’s semi-final, needed the victory in Barcelona to secure his No. 1 ranking.
The 63rd-ranked Tsitsipas was trying to become the first Greek to win an ATP Tour title. He was the first Greek to make it to an ATP final since Nicholas Kalogeropoulos in 1973.
Tsitsipas was the youngest finalist in Barcelona since 2005 and was looking to become the first unseeded champion in the tournament since Gaston Gaudio in 2002.
The Greek had pulled off the biggest win of his career on Friday by upsetting world number seven Dominic Thiem in the semis and was the underdog against Carreno Busta, who is ranked 52 places above him.
The youngster got off to a flying start as he broke his opponent in the second game and marched into a 4-1 lead. The Spaniard hit back with a break to level at 5-5 but wasted a chance to break again and lost his serve to concede the set.
Tsitsipas, ranked 63rd, broke the 27-year-old for a third time to pull 4-2 ahead in the second and eventually served out the match, collapsing to the ground in elation as he won on his second match point when Carreno Busta hit beyond the baseline.
Karolina Pliskova recovered from a slow start to defeat CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 to claim the Stuttgart Grand Prix title yesterday.
The Czech fifth seed earned the second clay trophy of her carer after Prague three years ago and was the first from her country to play in the German final.
Vandeweghe, who beat three top-10 players this week, was unable to keep the best clay run of her career alive in the final.
The No. 16 in the world was bidding to become the first American winner in Stuttgart since Lindsay Davenport in 2005.
Tsitsipas was the youngest finalist in Barcelona since 2005 and was looking to become the first unseeded champion in the tournament.