For the first time since 1997, a Spanish pair captured the doubles crown in Barcelona. Marc and Feliciano Lopez defeated Jean-Julien Rojer and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-6 6-4 to win their third title together.
Photo credit: Banco Sadabell
Thanks a lot to Tony for sharing his story and pictures!
Despite attending the BNP Paribas Open every year since 2008, I have never been in an ideal position to take some good Rafa Nadal photos… until today! Rafa has been working hard on his comeback everyday since Saturday on the practice courts of the BNP Paribas Open. It seems crazy to say a player who’s currently ranked #5 in the world is “working on his comeback,” but that’s how high the bar is for Rafa–who is arguably the G.O.A.T.. It would have been better if there was sunlight on the court instead of shadow, but I’m pretty pleased with the results. I’m also pleased with Rafa’s awesome jersey-style tennis outfit and his $850,000 Richard Mille watch. Just another day in Tennis Paradise!
All players play three round-robin matches against rivals in their group to determine a winner and runner-up from each group, who advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.
In the semi-finals the winner of Group A plays the runner-up of Group B and the winner of Group B plays the runner-up of Group A. Semi-final winners advance to the final.
Singles:
– Group A: Novak Djokovic (1), Andy Murray (3), Tomas Berdych (5), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7)
– Group B: Roger Federer (2), David Ferrer (4), Juan Martin del Potro (6), Janko Tipsarevic (8)
Doubles:
–Group A: Bob and Mike Bryan (1), Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek (3), Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez (6), Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer (7)
–Group B: Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor (2), Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau (4), Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna (5), Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen (8)
