Barcelona/Stuttgart: Japan’s Kei Nishikori claimed his second consecutive Barcelona Open title on Sunday with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 over Spaniard Pablo Andujar.
Andujar had upset Rafael Nadal’s conquerer Fabio Fognini and David Ferrer on his route to the final and made the perfect start by breaking the world number five’s serve in the first game.
However, Nishikori broke straight back and then sealed the set by breaking once more in the 10th game.
The second set followed a similar pattern as Andujar moved into a 4-2 lead, but Nishikori then upped his level to race through the final four games to seal his ninth career title.
“Finally yes, I am the champion, but in the beginning (of the week), I was just playing one match at time with so many tough players and all the Spanish players playing here,” said Nishikori.
“I tried to do my best and I am very happy.
“The second set was very hard and to be honest I don’t know how I was able to win it.”
Victory continued Nishikori’s love affair with the Spanish clay court season having also reached the final of last year’s Madrid Masters when he took the first set off Nadal before having to retire with an injury.
The injury ended up writing off the rest of his season on clay as he missed the Rome Masters and suffered a shock first round exit at the French Open to Martin Klizan, who he swept aside in Saturday’s semi-final.
The US Open finalist should be a far bigger threat in Paris this year and Andujar recognised that he had been made to pay for not taking his chance to force the match into a deciding set.
“I think Nishikori deserved to win the first set, but not the second,” he said.
“But when you play against players of this calibre, that are capable of getting into a great rhythm, if you don’t take your chances you end up losing.”
In Stuttgart, Germany’s Angelique Kerber extended her winning streak to 11 matches with a three-sets win over Caroline Wozniacki to win the Stuttgart claycourt title. Having knocked out three-time champion Maria Sharapova in the second round, Kerber recovered from losing the final’s first set to earn a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over former world number one Wozniacki.
“I fought hard until the end and drained all my reserves of energy,” beamed Bremen-born Kerber.
“I am mega-proud to have won here in front of a home crowd.”
Since winning the Charleston tournament a fortnight ago, Kerber carried her impressive recent form onto Stuttgart’s clay courts.
Her win over Sharapova was the first time the Russian had tasted defeat in Stuttgart in her fourth appearance at the German venue.
The first set of Sunday’s final was all Wozniacki, who broke Kerber in the fourth game then held her serve to take a 4-1 lead before the set was eventually served out.
The German rallied to control the second, blasting her way out to a 3-0 lead before breaking the former world number one in the sixth game for a 5-1 lead to serve out the set.
Both players traded breaks in the third before Wozniacki looked to be heading for her second tournament victory of 2015 at 5-3.
But Kerber made her shots count and with the Dane under immense pressure on the base line, Wozniacki was broken in the ninth and 11th games to give the German victory in just over two hours.
