Kei Nishikori thumps Santiago Giraldo to claim Barcelona title; Grigor Dimitrov wins in Romania

Kei Nishikori of Japan poses with the trophy after day eight of the ATP Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona on April 27, 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.

They were an unlikely pair of warriors battling for honours at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona in Spain. The usual suspects were missing – David Ferrer fell at the first hurdle, Rafael Nadal lost in the quarters and Nicolas Almagro, who slayed the emperor, was dispatched in the semifinal.

In the event, Kei Nishikori had too much pedigree and power for the limited talents of Santiago Giraldo. The Japanese used his brutally effective forehand and an equally deft drop shot to outclass the Colombian 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 14 minutes to earn the fifth title of his budding career at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The victory will catapult Nishikori to 12th in the new rankings on Monday.

It was a final that lacked familiarity. The Barcelona event has been the preserve of the Spanish, especially a certain Rafael Nadal. But with Nishikori making serene progress through the week, and the brilliant effort from Giraldo to eliminate the last Spaniard standing, the match assumed a colour of novelty that has been hard to find in recent seasons.

Nishikori was perhaps a tad nervous at the start of the final. He lost his way from 40-15 in the second game and an upbeat Giraldo took advantage to earn an early break. The Japanese though warmed up quickly to the occasion as he set out repairing the early damage.

The man from Pereira in Colombia had only been in a final once before – at the Movistar Open in Santiago, Chile. But that was an ATP 250 event, where he lost a close encounter to Tommy Robredo, after winning the first set.

As soon as Nishikori found his range, Giraldo struggled to cope with the weight and depth of the groundstrokes from the belligerent racquet of his opponent. The world No.17 was playing his seventh career final, having already won four titles including two at the ATP 500 level. Once the 24-year-old took control, Giraldo was fighting an uphill battle.

Nishikori turned the set on its head from 0-2, as he tore into the Giraldo serve to win six straight games. The Colombian did try to keep the set alive by fighting hard in the seventh game, but Nishikori was packing too much punch off his forehand.

In the 36 minute first set, Giraldo managed just 48% on his first serve and won a meagre 23% of his second serve points to hand the set on a platter to the steadier Nishikori. The Japanese also had nine winners compared to just three from the Colombian.

At the start of the second set, Giraldo slipped from a seemingly comfortable position. Nishikori produced a brilliant backhand winner from wide of the court followed by a pair of forehand winners to break Giraldo for the fourth straight time.

The match seemed to completely slip away from the Colombian when he surrendered another break in the fifth game through a rudimentary error. Moments after squandering a game point, Giraldo failed to return a powerful forehand drive past the net to offer yet another break point.

Despite being in position to play a backhand, Giraldo let an inside out forehand from Nishikori sail past him assuming that it was going to drift wide. The Japanese was up 4-1 and the scent of a third ATP World Tour 500 final started to fill his breath.

Even as Nishikori seemed to suddenly struggle with a bout of fatigue, Giraldo held serve one last time to ensure that the Japanese needed to serve out for the Trofeo Conde de Godó. A tired looking Nishikori started with a flourish – an ace and a drop shot helping him along to three match points.

The Japanese double faulted on the first opportunity and found the net with his forehand on the next point. But Giraldo offered a short ball on his backhand on the next point and Nishikori used his power to force one final error off his opponent to clinch his second title of the year.

The Florida resident broke into the Spanish citadel, converting five of seven break points against an out of depth opponent. Nishikori also had an impressive 19 winners to just 10 from Giraldo as he marched imperiously toward a memorable victory.

Nishikori’s dominant performance this week is certain to make him a dark horse for the French Open next month. The Japanese joined Gaston Gaudio and Marat Safin as the only men from outside of Spain to have held this title since the turn of the millennium. Nishikori was rewarded with a replica of the heavy trophy, a cheque for $422,100 and 500 valuable points to add to his ranking kitty.

A little farther away, there was also another young man making a mark of his own. Grigor Dimitrov won the third title of his career, and the first on clay, when he defeated Lukas Rosol 7-6(2), 6-1 to clinch the Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Romania. The Bulgarian needed nearly an hour to snag the first set, but cruised thereafter to seal victory in an hour an twenty minutes for his second title this year.