Rafael Nadal Wins tenth Barcelona Open Title

Rafael Nadal romped to his tenth Barcelona Open title on Sunday as he sweptwing aside Austria's priest Thiem 6-4, 6-1 for a 51st clay-court crown. The Spaniard has created the right begin to the clay-court season and can aim for {a 10th|a tenth} French Open next month when conjointly claiming his 10th title at the Monte Carlo Masters last week. Nadal won in Barcelona between 2005-2009, 2011-13 and currently within the last 2 years.

The 14-time grand slam champion sounds like the person to hammer in Paris as on the court new baptized in his name he didn't drop a collection all week.

Thiem had aghast world number one Andy Murray in Saturday's semi-finals and showed some early resistance.

The world number 9 even had his solely break purpose of the match within the 1st game.

But Nadal, returning to high kind at age thirty, upped his intensity at the critical moment and took the set with the only break within the tenth game.

The second set was a procession as Thiem's frustration at his inability to interrupt through Nadal's defences saw him systematically hearth long.

Thiem command off 3 break points in his gap service game, however was low-powered to prevent Nadal thenceforth as he won the last 5 games to seal success in only over ninety minutes on court.

Maria Sharapova get in into stuttgart semis

Wildcard entrant Maria Sharapova came to action on following her 15-month ban, however has gave the look of she ne'er very went away in winning her 3 matches to date while not dropping a group.

Former world much loved Maria Sharapova cruised into the stuttgart grand prix semi-finals on Friday, extending her winning comeback from a doping suspension with a sleek 6-3, 6-4 success over Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit.

Wildcard entrant Sharapova came to action on following her 15-month ban, however has gave the look of she ne'er very went away in winning her 3 matches to date while not dropping a group.

Sharapova has additionally received wildcards for forthcoming tournaments in national capital and Rome, angering some players WHO say a doping bad person ought to begin from the lower-tier tournaments and earn back ranking points instead.

Reaching the Stuttgart final could also be enough to maneuver Sharapova's ranking back over a pair of hundred and secure her a spot at intervals the qualifying tournament for the French Open, and if she did well in Madrid and Rome she may turn out the foremost draw for Wimbledon.

The Kontaveit, who battled between the Stuttgart qualifiers into the main draw, confirmed her good current form early in Friday game.


The Estonian world rank seventy six, WHO entered the eventually phrase in Biel previous this month, moved into broken double in the course of a row in defiance of the fact that as Sharapova upped the strain, disrespectful each serve of her opponent to win five games throughout a row.

Sharapova broke over again early at intervals the second set and despite double dropping her serve throughout a late bout of nerves she broke the Estonian over again, protection success on the first purpose as Kontaveit sent a forehand long.

The US-based Russian will next play the winner of the quarter-final between France's Kristina Mladenovic and European Carla Suarez Navarro.

Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas crash out

Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas crash out of Barcelona Open in initial spherical

The unseeded Indo-Uruguay try lost 6-7 (3) 6-7 (2) to the top-seeded combination of Henri Kontinen and John Peers.

After the high of Monte Carlo Masters title triumph, India's Rohan Bopanna and his partner Pablo Cuevas suffered a primary spherical exit at the ATP barcelona Open here.

The unseeded Indo-Uruguay try lost 6-7 (3) 6-7 (2) to the top-seeded combination of Henri Kontinen and John Peers.

En route to their title win in monaco last week, Bopanna and Cuevas had defeated the globe darling and 2 players in doubles -- Kontinen and Peers -- within the quarterfinals.

The Finnish-Australian try therefore penalise its defeat in European nation.

Bopanna is currently hierarchal 18 within the world whereas Cuevas is hierarchal 24 within the doubles and 26 within the singles.