Rafael Nadal beat defending champion Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-5 to win the Barcelona Open for the ninth time on Sunday, equaling Guillermo Vilas' record of 49 career clay-court titles.
Nadal added this title to his trophy from Monte Carlo last week as the 14-time Grand Slam winner regains form on his favorite surface ahead of next month's French Open.
"I'm very happy because besides this being one of the most important tournaments that I have won, this is another week that I am playing very well," Nadal said. "These have been two fantastic weeks, weeks I have been striving for for a long time."
Nishikori had won the tournament for the last two years after early exits by Nadal.
In an entertaining clash of the two top-seeded players, Nadal proved more decisive under pressure, saving seven of eight break chances in the first set while converting the two chances he got.
The Spaniard then bettered second-seeded Nishikori through several superb rallies in a back-and-forth second set to win key points and claim his 69th career title in his 101st final.
"I was playing against the No. 6 player in the world, and if you don't play at your best you aren't going to win," the fifth-ranked Nadal said.
Besides matching Vilas' Open Era milestone from the 1970s and 1980s, Nadal added Barcelona to his list of tournaments he has won a record nine times, along with Roland Garros and Monte Carlo. No other player has won a tournament nine times.
Sania-Martina lose
Suttgart (Germany): Sania Mirza along with her partner Martina Hingis suffered an upset defeat in the women's doubles final of the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament as they conceded one set advantage to go down to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic here.
The top seeded Indo-Swiss pair lost 6-2, 1-6, 6-10 in an hour and 21 minutes to the second seeded French combination here on Sunday night.
The Indo-Swiss duo had an ideal start to the final match as they bagged the opening set rather comfortably.
But the French pair came back strongly in the second set to down their higher ranked opponent and then clinched the match in the tie-breaker. Garcia and Mladenovic were more aggressive, hitting 25 winners as compared to 16 by Sania and Martina.