PETE ZIEBRON
Fernando Verdasco now 9-1 on clay in 2010 (Charles Gabrean Photography)
Fernando Verdasco
won the 5th and most prestigious tournament of his career, defeating
number 2 seed Robin Soderling 6-3 4-6 6-3 to win the Barcelona Open Banc
Sabadell ATP World Tour 500. All 4
of Verdasco’s previous wins were ATP World Tour 250 tournaments. Earlier this year Verdasco defeated
Andy Roddick to win the title in San Jose and now joins Marin Cilic, Roddick
and Juan Carlos Ferrero as the only two-time Champions in 2010.
Verdasco’s
appearance in the Final was the 14th consecutive time that a
Spaniard played a Final in Barcelona and the 11th time that a
Spaniard won the event, including the last 8: (Spaniards in red)
’10 Verdasco d. Soderling
’09
Nadal d. Ferrer
’08
Nadal d. Ferrer
’07
Nadal d. Canas
’06
Nadal d. Robredo
’05
Nadal d. Ferrero
’04
Robredo d. Gaudio
’03
Moya d. Safin
’02
Gaudio d. Costa
’01
Ferrero d. Moya
’00
Safin d. Ferrero
’99
Mantilla d. Alami
’98
T. Martin d. Berasategui
’97
Costa d. Portas
Verdasco came
dangerously close to being eliminated twice in the tournament. In his third round match against Jurgen
Melzer, he was two points away from being dismissed in straight sets. Yesterday, against David Ferrer, a
Barcelona Finalist for the past two years, Verdasco was down a set and then
staved off game points at 6-5 in the second set that would have led to a
tiebreaker. Instead in both
matches, Verdasco found a way to steady his game just enough to get through.
The march toward
Roland Garros continues next week in Rome at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia
Masters 1000 where Rafael Nadal will attempt to win the tournament for a second
consecutive time and for the fifth time in six years and Roger Federer will
make his 2010 debut on clay. If
the seeds hold form, Nadal and Federer would meet in the Rome Semifinals.
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