Nadal, Ferrer to meet once more in Barcelona final

World number one Rafael Nadal is now just a win away from clinching his fifth Barcelona Open title and the only player left to foil his attempt is none other than compatriot David Ferrer.

Both Spaniards dispatched their semifinal opponents in contrasting fashion to set up a rematch of last year’s final. Nadal beat Russian Nikolay Davydenko easily in two sets (6-3, 6-2) while Ferrer had to fight hard against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to seal the victory after a close third-set tiebreak (2-6, 6-2, 7-6).

The final match is expected to be an exciting affair considering that both Nadal and Ferrer are claycourt experts and last year’s title match was contested in three sets. Nadal currently holds the lead in head-to-head matches against Ferrer (6-3).

In men’s doubles, defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States were beaten by Mark Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi in a tiebreak (6-2, 6-7, 10-7). The duo from Bahamas and India will meet the Canadian-Serbian pair Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic after the latter ousted Wesley Moodie (South Africa) and Simon Aspelin (Sweden) in the other semifinal.