BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Rafael Nadal won the Barcelona Open for the eighth time Sunday, defeating Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-3 for his fourth title of the year.
After trailing 3-0 in the first set, Nadal found his form and broke his fellow Spaniard in three of his next four service games to take command.
Nadal has made six straight finals after returning from a knee injury that sidelined him since last summer. This title, the 54th of his career, comes one week after his eight-year reign at Monte Carlo ended with a loss to top-ranked Novak Djokovic.
Nadal has won all 10 of his matches against the 12th-ranked Almagro. He has won 39 straight matches on the red clay at Real Club de Tenis, his last loss coming 10 years ago.
