You just can’t beat him.  Not unless he’s injured.

David Ferrer won fairly easily yesterday over Nicolas Almagro, but he said it took a lot out of him.  And his reward?  Play Nadal.  Again.  He just played him in Monte Carlo, but couldn’t take a set off him.

Ferrer didn’t start well going down two breaks to lose the first set 6-2.  Ferrer was having to fight off lots of break points just to hold.  However, he got up a break in the second.  Unfortunately, it didn’t matter.  Rafa broke, then broke again and took the set 6-4.

That makes Rafa the six time winner of Barcelona. He would also be going for title number 7 had he not skipped Barcelona last year to preserve his knees, but given how he’s barely losing games, let alone sets, the stress on his body seems less than usual.

Next week, Rafa will take a week off.  There will be three ATP 250 events: Munich, Estoril, and Belgrade.  Djokovic is expected to return back in action at his home tournament.  He hasn’t played this clay season yet.  Viktor Troicki and John Isner will play.  This marks the return of Fernando Gonzalez who hasn’t played since last year’s US Open and played sparingly last year.

Last year, Roger Federer played Estoril and got upset in the semis by Montanes.  He’s not playing this year.  Soderling, del Potro and Verdasco are the top seeds this year.  In Munich, defending champ, Mikhail Youzhny is scheduled to play as is Cilic and Wawrinka.

It looks like Murray, Federer, and Nadal will return to play in Madrid.  Andy Roddick has used these past few weeks to train as he typically does prior to the clay season and Wimbledon.  Sam Querrey appears to have limited his clay schedule, probably as a reaction to mild burnout last year.