Six of the best at Barcelona helps Rafael Nadal claim wins record

Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4 in their second all-Spanish final in seven days to claim his sixth Barcelona Open title.

The world No 1 chalked up his 29th straight match at the clay-court event when the fourth-seeded Ferrer hit a backhand wide. Nadal's sole loss at Barcelona came at the hands of fellow countryman Alex Corretja in 2003.

It was Nadal's 45th career ATP title and his second consecutive trophy after winning in straight sets at Monte Carlo on 17 April. "It is incredible to come back and win after the difficult decision to not play last year," Nadal said.

Nadal triumphed at Barcelona from 2005-2009, including final wins over Ferrer in the 2008 and 2009, before sitting out the last year's edition to rest.

"I am sorry for David. He is having a great season and deserves a victory," Nadal said after improving his career record against Ferrer to 13-5, including a 5-0 record in finals. He has beaten Ferrer ten straight times on clay since losing to him in 2004.

Ferrer has played in four finals this year, winning two and being a runner-up to Nadal twice.

"I hope Rafa doesn't come back next year," Ferrer said jokingly to the public as he collected his second-place trophy.

The 24-year-old Nadal became the first player to win two tournaments six or more times - he has won Monte Carlo seven times - in the open era.

His 31st clay-court title also moved him into third place of all-time, ahead of Bjorn Borg and Manuel Orantes. The last time he lost on his preferred surface was to Robin Soderling at the 2009 French Open.

Both players struggled to hold their serve in a match that saw six breaks for Nadal and three for Ferrer.

Ferrer held his first service game with an excellent drop shot and had a break point in the second, but Nadal rallied to save, before Ferrer began to lose the precision that had led him to wins over the seeded Jrgen Melzer and Nicolas Almagro in the earlier rounds.

The top-seeded Nadal broke Ferrer's serve in the third with a forehand down the line, before breaking to love in Ferrer's next service game to go up 4-1.

Ferrer broke back when Nadal erred on his backhand slice in the sixth game, but then netted an approach shot to surrender the advantage for Nadal to comfortably take the first set.

Nadal hit another of his patented left-hand drives into the corner to break Ferrer in the first game of the second set, but the second-highest-ranked Spanish player in the world saved a break point to hold in the third game, and took Nadal's serve when he forced Nadal to return long in the fourth, pulling even at 2-2.

Ferrer then pulled away to lead 4-2, only for Nadal to respond by taking the next four straight games for victory.