There was to be no title in Rio for Fabio Fognini after all, despite his heroics in the semi-final in overcoming the legendary Rafael Nadal on his favourite surface of clay, as David Ferrer proved to be just too consistent in the final. Forced into taking more chances than he would have liked on his ground strokes, just to break through his opponent's defences and earn points, the Italian made far too many unforced errors during the match. That, allied to Ferrer's renowned tenacity and mixture of shots, led to a one-sided final that was always in the Spanish number two's favour as he took the Rio Open title 6-2 6-3.
The first set went with serve until the fourth game, when Ferrer upped his intensity to break the Italian's service game for the first time. He was to repeat the feat in the eighth game to take the first set at a canter as his rival struggled with his shot selection, including one audacious drop shot from the baseline that hardly reached the net. Fognini's unforced error count was far too high to trouble a player with the consistency that the Spaniard possesses.
Set two was progressing in a similar fashion as Ferrer again broke in the fourth game to go 3-1 ahead and then blasted through his opponent's defences again to extend his lead to 5-1. The Italian, seeded four for the event, did at least find some reserves to stage a mini- fight back and break Ferrer's serve at last to reduce his arrears to 5-3, but could do nothing in the next game as his adversary closed the match out.
The win was the Spanish player's second title on the tour already this season, after already winning the Qatar Open in Doha and his 23rd ATP singles title in all. He also maintained his unbeaten run against Fognini.
In the women's event at the same venue, Italy had better fortune as Sara Errani proved too strong for the Slovakian Anna Schmiedlova in the final, coming through 7-6 6-1 for her eighth WTA single title on the tour. Victory was also important in terms of moving her back up the world rankings, as she should now be confirmed at number 12, as she looks to re-establish her credentials as a top ten player.
