Kei Nishikori retains Barcelona Open title
Monday 27 April 2015 11:12, UK
Kei Nishikori retained the Barcelona Open title with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Pablo Andujar in Sunday's final.
However, the world No 5 from Japan was forced to labour against his unseeded Spanish opponent on the clay surface - and an arduous second set was, for long periods, going against him until the pendulum critically swung.
A straightforward first set evidenced the 25-year-old's tag as favourite, as he immediately responded to losing his first service game by breaking Andujar back.
Thirteen winners and the same amount of unforced errors also showed, though, that Nishikori was not at his free-flowing best.
Andujar, the world No 66, broke Nishikori's serve in the first game of the second set but the Japanese player was unable to respond as positively as he did in the first.
A beautiful backhand shot across court followed by a drop shot illustrated Andujar's growing confidence as he forced Nishikori into laborious holds of serve.
But as Andujar wasted shots, Nishikori registered the elusive break to make it 4-4 at which point the result seemed imminent.
He held serve in the next game easily before a thumping return of serve down the line broke Andujar's service game and his resistance.
Nishikori, who is the only non-Spaniard to win the event in the past 14 instalments, was extending his personal record against Andujar to 3-1 with the win.
The title is the ninth ATP accolade of Nishikori's career and his second of the season.
"Finally yes, I am the champion, but in the beginning (of the week), I was just playing one match at a 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."
Andujar said: "I think Nishikori deserved to win the first set, but not the second.
"But when you play against players of this calibre, that are capable of getting into a great rhythm, if you don't take your chances you end up losing."
