Unstoppable Rafael Nadal won his 34th match in a row on clay, defeating good friend David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4 to win another Barcelona Open, his 31st clay title from 46 overall career trophies.
Nadal beat fourth seed Ferrer, who played with a troublesome calf injury and with a taped calf, in a final for the second straight week after winning Monte Carlo at his fellow Spaniard's expense in another rout seven days ago.
He could not prevent Nadal taking a sixth title in seven years at the Real Club de Tenis.
"It's unbelievable," said the winner. "I'm very happy to come back and win here after not playing last year. It was a difficult decision; it's a special dream to play in this tournament."
Nadal has not been beaten on his surface of choice since going down in an upset at the French Open two years ago to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
Nadal beat fourth seed Ferrer, who played with a troublesome calf injury and with a taped calf, in a final for the second straight week after winning Monte Carlo at his fellow Spaniard's expense in another rout seven days ago.
He could not prevent Nadal taking a sixth title in seven years at the Real Club de Tenis.
"It's unbelievable," said the winner. "I'm very happy to come back and win here after not playing last year. It was a difficult decision; it's a special dream to play in this tournament."
Nadal has not been beaten on his surface of choice since going down in an upset at the French Open two years ago to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
The world No. 1 seems to play his best tennis on clay in April and has not lost during April since 2005 when he went down to Russian Igor Andreev. Since then, he's won 67 clay matches -and 11 titles -during his magic spring month.
His 31-2 clay final record includes a pair of losses to Roger Federer at Hamburg five years ago and Madrid in 2009.
Spain again ruled at the tournament, with a local playing the final for the ninth straight year. The last non-Spaniard to win was Argentina's Gaston Gaudio in 2002.
It was the fifth all-Spanish title match in the past seven years in which Nadal figured.
Nadal has now beaten Ferrer in 13 of 17 meetings. "I feel for David, who deserves to win a major title, he's doing very well week after week," said Nadal, who has beaten Ferrer in three Barcelona finals.
"I wish you luck again next year," joked Ferrer, who admitted he is growing tired of losing constantly to his friend. Nadal cannot help himself adding to records on clay. By lifting the trophy at Barcelona, he becomes the first in post-1968 Open tennis to have won two events more than six times.
About Nadal: Rafael Nadal Parera born 3 June 1986 is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time. Nadal has won nine Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi
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