Rafael Nadal saves match point to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas for 12th Barcelona Open title

Spaniard clinches first trophy of the year and 87th of career

Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning the Barcelona Open final 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday, April 25. Reuters

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal takes a bath at the pool of the club after defeating Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Barcelona Open. EPA

Rafael Nadal celebrates with the annual pool dive after winning the Barcelona Open. Reuters

Spain's Rafael Nadal jumps in a pool after winning the ATP Barcelona Open. AFP

Rafael Nadal jumps in a pool after winning the ATP Barcelona Open. AFP

Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning the ATP Barcelona Open. AFP

Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning the Barcelona Open final against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas. Reuters

Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates after his victory. AFP

Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Real Club de Tenis in Barcelona. AFP

Rafael Nadal during the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Reuters

Stefanos Tsitsipas plays a forehand against Rafael Nadal. Getty

Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to Rafael Nadal in a hard-fought Barcelona Open final. EPA

Stefanos Tsitsipas dives to return a ball against Rafael Nadal. Gettt

Rafael Nadal saved a championship point to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 on Sunday to claim a 12th Barcelona Open title in the ATP's longest match of 2021.

The Spaniard secured his first title of the year and 87th of his career, denying Tsitsipas back-to-back triumphs following his maiden Masters 1000 title at Monte Carlo last week.

Nadal avenged his Australian Open quarter-final loss to Tsitsipas and will return to second in the ATP rankings on Monday by climbing back above Daniil Medvedev after his marathon 3-hour 38-minute win.

Nadal had only lost one set in 11 previous finals in Catalonia and had never lost a clay-court final having held a match point.

He had two in the second set but a combination of some uncharacteristic misses from the Spaniard and brilliant play from his opponent helped Tsitsipas turn the match around.

The Greek had his own chance to clinch back-to-back titles when he held match point at 5-4 in the decider.

But Nadal dug deep, broke the Tsitsipas serve in the next game and battled his way to victory in three hours and 38 minutes.

Tsitsipas, who recovered from two sets down to beat the Spaniard at the Australian Open, made a brilliant start to the match, striking winners at will, breaking Nadal's serve and pushing for a second break.

But the Spaniard, as he has done so many times before, weathered the storm, began sewing doubt into his opponent's mind by targeting his backhand and turned the match around.

He won four games in a row from 2-4 to take the opening set, and then again came from a break down in the second set after Tsitsipas had regrouped well.

That took him to the brink of victory on the court named after him but Tsitsipas showed his own mettle to stay in the contest, recovering from 15-40 at 4-5 with two fine points, including a lovely touch volley winner on the second.

A topsy-turvy tie-break saw Nadal lead 4-2 then save two set points from 4-6 only to serve a double fault at 6-6 that helped Tsitsipas clinch it.

The third was serve dominated until 4-5, when Nadal wobbled on his own delivery, but ultimately it was the Spaniard who proved just the tougher.