Rafael Nadal continued his total domination of clay-court tennis with another convincing victory over fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the final of the Barcelona Open. This is the Spaniards 4 title in a row in Barcelona.

Rafa won 6-1 4-6 6-1 win over the second seed David Ferrer.

Can any man relinquish Nadal of the title, of clay court King, at the moment he looks invincible on the red stuff and looks set to win another French Open at the end of the month. Andy Murray is possible quarter final opponent next week in Rome.

The flip side of the question is will Rafael Nadal ever win a grand slam not on Clay, last year he came close at both Wimbledon and the US open, but the with emergence of new stars like Novak Djokivic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and our own Andy Murray. Will last year’s Wimbledon have been Rafael’s best chance of winning on grass, a victory had looked likely at one in the match before Roger Federer produced some final brilliance to win his historic 5th consecutive Wimbledon Title.

Heading into the French Open at the end of this month, thespaniard will have played for four consecutive weeks with only one week off ahead of the defence of his Roland Garros title. Rafa said

I know I have been complaining about it but there is nothing we can do for this year

Do you agree with Rafa? Do clay court Players get a raw deal?

Mario Ancic defeated Andy Murray 6-4 6-4 to become one of the first players to advance to the third round of the Open Sabadell Atlántico in Barcelona.

Mario Ancic scored his second win of the year over Andrew Murray to send the British  number 1 crashing out in his first match. The players exchanged breaks of serve in the opening set, with Mario winning a vital second break in the ninth game before holding his nerve and serving out for the first set. The second set followed a similar pattern, Murray wasting three break points before Ancic wrapped up the second with same scoreline of the first.

Ancic is rapidly re climbing the rankings having missed much of the 2007 season due to illness, he advances to the third round to face the winner of the encounter between Nicolas Almagro and Filippo Volandri. In Contrast Murray seems to be floundering in making up points in this period he missed last year. The promising start he made to the year is starting to fade and the progression he had to make on clay is as yet not quite coming to fruition.

Murray was the third seed to exit the tournament, following Fernando Verdasco and Jarkko Nieminen.

In other matches Nicolas Lapentti beat Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno Traver.