David Ferrer defeats Nicolas Almagro to reach Barcelona final
Spanish Number 2 David Ferrer undid compatriot and clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro in straight sets at the 2011 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Saturday, defeating his opponent in an easy match which lasted just over one hour and thirty-six minutes. The final score-line was 6-3, 6-4 to David Ferrer as he entered the title match of the clay tournament.
The player, who seems to be reaching the apex of his career at the ripe old age of 29, impressed fans with a near-flawless display of his talent at the semi-final of the ATP 500 Series event. The encounter, which lasted just over 90 minutes, was watched by hundreds of fans at the Real Club de Tenis in Catalunya.
The match between Almagro and Ferrer seemed to be an easy one at first, as David Ferrer broke his opponent once in the beginning of the match to take the lead. However, Almagro added intrigue to the meeting by scoring three aces in this set aone, and breaking his opponent once. At one time during the set, the two players were neck-and-neck as Almagro lagged just one point behind Ferrer at 4-3 for the higher-ranked Spaniard. However, Ferrer was determined to win his fifth consecutive semi-final at Barcelona, and broke back in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead against Almagro. The player was now easily in the lead, and broke once again to take the first set of the match 6-3. He managed to repeat this performance in their next set, as the two players teetered on the verge of a third set at 5-4. The Spaniard remained unbroken in the last, and pulled some great shots against his opponent to score two aces and take the second set 6-4. This led the player into the title match of the tournament with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.
The two players now have a head-to-head record of 7-0, as Ferrer has defeated Almagro in all of their meeting so far. Despite this, Almagro will now enter the ATP Top 10 for the first time in his career as the new rankings are released on Monday.
David Ferrer will now move on to the title match against Rafael Nadal.
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