16th WEEK

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Voo de Mar

Only one tournament this week, but a big one, in Barcelona. The Monte Carlo champion and No. 1 in the world, Rafael Nadal [1] came back to the tournament after a one year absence. The Spaniard won the tournament in years 2005-09, but withdrew last year. “Physically I feel fine, a bit tired because the last two matches in Monte Carlo were tough. I’m very happy to be back to this tournament and my club. I couldn’t play last year due to physical problems and the tennis calendar” had said Rafa at the press-conference before the tournament started, adding – “After three ‘Masters 1000’ events, this one is the most important in the world among ‘ATP World Tour 500‘”.  Indeed, the tournament draw was similar to the Monte Carlo’s one #. Nadal confirmed his astonishing supremacy on clay-courts winning Barcelona without dropping a set, no-one was able to get five games in a set against him. The king of clay becomes the first man to win two different tournaments at least six times. Just like a week ago, in the final he met his compatriot David Ferrer [6], and again had more troubles in the 2nd set – “Pics” was two points away to lead 5:2 and had a double mini-set point at 4:3… Former Barcelona champion – Juan Carlos Ferrero [77] – has played his first tournament of the year (7-month injury break), had won three matches before was ousted by Nicolas Almagro [11] in the quarter-finals.

Finals

Barcelona (500)
S: (1)Rafael Nadal d. (4)David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4
D: S.Gonzalez/S.Lipsky d. (1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan 5-7, 6-2, [12-10] – 4 m.p.

Choker of the week:
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo – beaten by Albert Ramos, who was trailing a set and two breaks down in the 2nd set. Ramos saved a match point in the 2nd set at 5:6* and was two points away from defeat at *4:5 (30-30) in the final set. He won 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 after 3 hours 11 minutes.
# Comparison of the Top 10 players who had participated at the Monte-Carlo Country Club last week and were supposed to play in Barcelona.
Monte Carlo:
1. Rafael Nadal, 3. Roger Federer, 4. Andy Murray, 6. David Ferrer, 7. Tomas Berdych, 8. Fernando Verdasco, 9. Jurgen Melzer, 10. Gael Monfils
Barcelona:
1. Rafael Nadal, 4. Andy Murray (withdrew), 5. Robin Soderling, 6. David Ferrer, 7. Tomas Berdych (withdrew), 8. Jurgen Melzer, 9. Gael Monfils
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2 Responses to 16th WEEK

  1. Joca says:
    April 24, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    In many ways historic tournament for mighty Nadal :

    * 11th player in Open era with 45 ATP crowns (next one to catch is Becker with 49)

    * 3rd player with most ATP crowns on clay, 31 (behind Vilas and Muster).. 25 of them Rafa won in 5 biggest clay tournaments of the season (5XFrench Open, 7XMOnte Carlo, 5XRome, 2XHamburg/Madrid, 6XBarcelona) which is amazing. He lost only 2 from 33 ATP finals on clay

    * 500 ATP wins at the age of 24, second youngest in Open era only behind Bjorn Borg

    * 14th player in Open era with 60 ATP finals and 5th who made them at the age of 24 (giants Borg, Connors, Lendl, McEnroe before him). Lat player to achieve this was Lendl in Philadelphia 1984.

    * Only player in Open era with 6 titles in 2 different tournements (Monte Carlo 7, Barcelona 6.. Rome and Roland Garros waiting to join)

    * 6th player in Open era with at least 44 Outdoor ATP crowns (Vilas, Connors, Lendl, Agassi, Federer before him)

    * Best wins percentage in Outdoor ATP matches with 452-78 score (85,3)

    * Tied with Bjorn Borg on 82,7% of Carrer match index (501-105)

    * 15 ATP crowns without lost set

  2. Voo de Mar says:
    April 24, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    Thanks Joca for extensive contribution 🙂

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