Rafael Nadal held off a stirring fightback from David Ferrer to beat his fellow Spaniard 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 on Sunday and become the first man to win four consecutive Barcelona Open titles. The top seed romped through the first set but Ferrer hit back superbly and Nadal had to dig deep to clinch his 25th career title, making it back-to-back tournament wins after his triumph in the Monte Carlo Masters. “I'm very happy,” a relieved Nadal said in a courtside interview. Second seed Ferrer, the champion in Valencia last month, had won three of their eight previous meetings but Nadal overpowered him in the first set, breaking three times to move ahead. Ferrer then changed his game plan, attacking the Nadal backhand and then ripping winners to the forehand side of the three-times French Open champion. The tactic worked to make it one-all. That was the first set Nadal had dropped in the past two weeks. But the 21-year-old then found a second wind and after breaking Ferrer in a long second game, he surged to a 5-0 lead and finished it off at 6-1. Gonzalez wins 10th title Fernando Gonzalez captured his 10th career title and second of the year Sunday at the BMW Open by beating Simone Bolelli of Italy 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-3. The second-seeded Gonzalez wasted two match points while leading 5-4 in the second set in the clay-court match. He went on to win after breaking serve for the first time in the match at 2-2 in the final set. Bolelli played in his first final, reaching by upsetting top-seeded Paul Henri-Mathieu of France in the semifinals. Gonzalez, who lost the 2007 Australian Open final to Roger Federer, won $92,000 and a sports car. For the first time in 19 years, a German failed to reach the tournament's quarterfinals. Dulko claims 3rd career title Gisela Dulko of Argentina beat top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) Sunday to win the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem and clinch her first title of the season. In an error-strewn match with 10 service breaks - five by each player - the 23-year-old Dulko won the third title of her career. Zvonareva maintains status Russia's Vera Zvonareva lived up to her top seeding by winning her first WTA title in nearly two years here on Sunday. The 23-year-old from Moscow came away 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 winner against third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus to lift her sixth title and first since Cincinnati in 2006. “It's a great relief for me,” said the 13th-ranked Russian who finished runner-up three times this year in Hobart, Doha and Charleston.
