Japan’s Kei Nishikori sealed his fifth career ATP title and first on clay with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Colombian Santiago Giraldo to claim the Barcelona Open.
Nishikori, who was playing for the first time on clay this week under new coach and former French Open champion Michael Chang, becomes the first non-Spaniard to win the event since 2002.
Giraldo was playing in just his second career final on the tour and his inexperience showed as Nishikori dictated from the off and broke three times on his way to taking the first set.
More of the same was to come in the second set as Nishikori raced out to a 5-1 lead before serving out for the championship.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov won his second ATP title of the year when he defeated Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 in the final of the Bucharest Open.
Ranked 16th in the world going into this week, Dimitrov, who previously had won in Acapulco where he defeated Andy Murray in the semi-finals, struggled against the big-hitting Rosol in the first set.
The Bulgarian took a 2-0 lead in what was the pair’s first meeting, but defending champion Rosol bounced back immediately.
Rosol saved four set points from 15/40 at 5-6, before Dimitrov dominated the tie-break to wrap up the first set in 58 minutes.
He then maintained the momentum by taking a 2-0 lead in the second set and broke Rosol for a third time, to love at 1-3 as he moved on to his 20th match win of 2014.
