• Rio Open

Ferrer and Errani take Rio titles

David Ferrer won his second tournament of the season and the 23rd ATP singles title of his career, beating Fabio Fognini on Sunday 6-2 6-3 in the final of the Rio Open.

Ferrer has won all eight matches he has played against Fognini, including the previous one - the final on clay last year in Buenos Aires.

Ferrer was seeded No.2 in the clay-court tournament behind countryman Rafael Nadal.

Ferrer conceded just five games to Fabio Fognini © Getty Images

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"It was my best match of the tournament and I'm very happy having won two tournaments this season," said the 32-year-old Ferrer, who is off to the best start of his career.

Ferrer also won the Qatar Open in Doha.

Nadal lost to sixth seed Fognini in Saturday's semi-finals, ending his 52-match winning streak on clay. Nadal, the winner of 14 Grand Slams, has yet to reach the final in three tournaments this season.

Fognini was looking for his fourth ATP singles title.

In the women's final, top-seeded Sara Errani defeated Anna Schmiedlova 7-6(2) 6-1. It was Errani's eighth WTA singles title and her first since winning two years ago in Mexico.

The victory also moves Errani up to 12 in the WTA ranking, ever closer to returning to the top 10.

"I'm close, but that's not my objective," she said. "The most important thing for me is to practice well, do things right and improve. And I think when you do things the right way, other things follow."

Errani could be back in Rio twice next year - for this tournament and the Olympics. She and partner Roberta Vinci lost to the Williams sisters in the quarterfinals of the London Olympics.

One drawback for Errani: Rio's Olympic tennis will be on hardcourts, not clay.

"It's a shame they won't be on clay," she said. "I was hoping they would be."

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