Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after winning the final Godo tennis tournament against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 25, 2021. Nadal won by 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
BARCELONA, Spain — Knowing he is still far from his best, Rafael Nadal just kept grinding it out.
He found a way Sunday to overcome lost opportunities in the Barcelona Open final and escape defeat while facing a red-hot opponent. Nadal won his first title of the year, squandering a couple of match points and then saving one on his way to beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-5.
Nadal secured his record 12th title at the clay-court tournament by converting on his third match point to cap a satisfying victory. It had been a lackluster start to the season for the third-ranked Nadal after he didn't play much last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's the work of every day," Nadal said. "It's about accepting the challenge, it's about being humble to accept that sometimes you are not playing that well. And you need to fight for it and you need to try to find a solution every day and that's what I did."
The match lasted 3 hours, 38 minutes, making it the longest best-of-three set ATP final since stats started being tracked in 1991. It was also the longest best-of-three ATP match so far this year.
It was Nadal's seventh title in the last 10 editions of the Barcelona Open, and 12th in 16 editions. The tournament was not played last year because of the pandemic.
Nadal called it "probably the toughest final" he had to play in Barcelona.
"I never played a final like this in this tournament," he said. "It means a lot to me. It was an important victory."
Nadal also needed three sets to advance in his first two matches in Barcelona. He was coming off a loss to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters last week, a tournament that Tsitsipas won in a final against Rublev.
Tsitsipas, who had not lost a set on his way to the final in Barcelona, had beaten Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Nadal was behind from the start but won four straight games to take the first set. The top-seeded Spaniard got off to another slow start in the second set and needed another late break. He wasted two match points at 5-4, then saved three consecutive break points in the following game.
Tsitsipas converted on his third set point of the tiebreaker to force a third set. The Greek then himself squandered a match point when 5-4 ahead. Nadal survived, winning three straight games for the title.
Tsitsipas, the second-seeded player in Barcelona, was seeking his 27th win this season to surpass Rublev as the top winner on the men's circuit.
The 34-year-old Nadal has won all 12 finals he reached in Barcelona. He dominated the tournament in his home country from 2005-09, 2011-13 and 2016-18. He lost in the 2019 semifinals to eventual champion Dominic Thiem.
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Nick Kyrgios cursed at the Wimbledon chair umpire and asked, “Are you dumb?” He demanded to see a Grand Slam supervisor after questioning why his opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, didn’t forfeit their ever-contentious, never-boring match for angrily hitting a ball into the stands after dropping the second set.
FALMOUTH, MA – The police in Falmouth have identified the victim in an accident involving a car plunging into the ocean on February 20, NBC10 Boston reported.
PHILADELPHIA – The Federation of Hellenic Societies of Philadelphia and Greater Delaware Valley announced that the Evzones, the Presidential Guard of Greece will be participating in the Philadelphia Greek Independence Day Parade on March 20.
JACKSON, Calif. — Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday for remote California communities near a wildfire that may have been sparked by fireworks or a barbecue on the Fourth of July in a mountainous region that's a top tourism destination.
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