Barcelona (AFP)
Rafael Nadal, world No. 3 and seeded No. 1, joined Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas, in the final of the Barcelona clay court tournament, after his victory in the semi-final on Saturday against his compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2.
Tsitsipas, winner last Sunday of his first Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, qualified a little earlier for his second straight final on the circuit by beating the Italian Jannick Sinner (19th) 6-3, 6-3 in 1 h 23 min.
Nadal will try to win the Barcelona tournament for the 12th time, where he won for the first time in 2005.
In the first half, Tsitsipas made the break at 4-3 in the first set, winning 6-3 in 41 minutes.
He converted a break point out of six, against 0 out of 2 for his young 19-year-old opponent.
In the next, Tsitsipas, after saving two break points at 1-2, then managed to take twice the serve of an Italian whom he largely dominated, to win the round in barely more time than the first, and the match.
Tsitsipas has won nine games in a row without losing a single set.
He now leads 2 wins to 1 in his head-to-head with Sinner, which all took place on clay.
The two players had met twice before, on the ocher of Rome, Tsitsipas winning in 2019, Sinner in 2020.
Nadal took advantage of the apparent fatigue of Carreno Busta who, the day before, had had to fight for a long time to defeat Argentina's Diego Schwartzman in three sets in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
The Spaniard took the service of his opponent from the start, to lead 2 to 0, then soar to 5 to 1. But Carreno Busta then reacted to return to 5 to 3.
Finally, the Mallorcan laboriously concluded the 1st round (6-3), in 46 minutes, dismissing three balls from 5 to 4.
Identical scenario in the second round where Nadal took twice the service of his opponent to lead 3 to 0. Despite some episodic reactions from Carreno Busta, the darling of the public concluded in 1 h 30 to find Tsitsipas against whom he has a record six wins for two losses.
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