Defending champion Kei Nishikori beat Spain’s Pablo Andujar to retain the Barcelona Open title on Sunday. Andujar had upset Rafael Nadal’s conqueror Fabio Fognini and David Ferrer on his route to the final and managed the perfect start by breaking the world number five’s serve in the first game.
Japan’s Nishikori, 25, won 6-4 6-4 to claim his ninth ATP World Tour title.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “It was one of the best tournaments so far this year. I always love playing here.”
Earlier Britain’s Jamie Murray and Australian partner John Peers lost 3-6 7-6 (6) 9-11 to Croatia’s Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen of Finland in the men’s doubles final.
Andujar defeated Fabio Fognini and David Ferrer on his way to the final and immediately broke Nishikori’s serve in Sunday’s match. However, Nishikori, ranked 5th in the world, broke straight back and eventually ground out a hard-fought victory.
“I hope I can come back next year,” added Nishikori.
“Finally yes, I am the champion, but in the beginning (of the week), I was just playing one match at time with so many tough players and all the Spanish players playing here,” said Nishikori.
“I tried to do my best and I am very happy.
“The second set was very hard and to be honest I don’t know how I was able to win it.”
”I didn’t look to defend my title, just to play my best,” Nishikori said. ”I knew that this was a tough tournament with all the Spanish players. I just tried to play my best and now I am really happy.”
”I knew that he had a great backhand down the line too, so I had to move the ball around, and in the last two games I played really well,” Nishikori said. ”On match point I just closed my eyes and hit it.”
The US Open finalist should be a far bigger threat in Paris this year and Andujar recognized that he had been made to pay for not taking his chance to force the match into a deciding set.
“I think Nishikori deserved to win the first set, but not the second,” he said.
“But when you play against players of this caliber, that are capable of getting into a great rhythm, if you don’t take your chances you end up losing.”
Kei Nishikori vs Pablo Andujar, 26/04/2015, 15:45 GMT, Match Center
Key Nishikori triumphs with second Barcelona Open title
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