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Rafael Nadal gained his twelfth Barcelona Open title, saving a match level in an exhilarating three-set victory over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal trailed 4-2 within the opener however recovered, breaking twice to take it.
World quantity 5 Tsitsipas confirmed nice grit within the second set, saving two match factors in sport 10 sport earlier than levelling the match on a tie-break.
In a decent third set, Nadal confronted a match level earlier than piling on the strain to win 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-5.
The victory, which took three hours 38 minutes, gave the 34-year-old his 61st clay court docket title and got here in opposition to an in-form opponent who had gained his maiden Masters crown in Monte Carlo final week.
“Profitable the trophy right here means lots,” mentioned Nadal, who had solely misplaced one set in 11 earlier finals within the Spanish metropolis.
“I’ve been rising my degree and this was an necessary victory for me.”
Tsitsipas, who recovered from two units all the way down to beat Nadal at February’s Australian Open, began this match strongly earlier than the Spaniard turned the opening set round.
Nadal once more got here from a break down within the second set after Tsitsipas had regrouped effectively.
That took him to the brink of victory on the court docket named after him however Tsitsipas confirmed his personal mettle to remain within the contest, recovering from 15-40 at 4-5 with two high quality factors, together with a beautiful contact volley winner on the second.
A topsy-turvy tie-break noticed Nadal lead 4-2 then save two set factors from 4-6 solely to serve a double fault at 6-6 that helped Tsitsipas clinch it.
The third set was serve dominated till 4-5, when Nadal wobbled on his personal supply, however in the end it was the Spaniard who proved simply the harder.
In the meantime, within the Belgrade clay court docket remaining, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini gained his fourth profession title.
The world quantity 10 beat Russia’s Aslan Karatsev, who had surprised Novak Djokovic within the semi-finals 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-0).
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