Barcelona, April 30 (IANS) Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Austria's Dominic Thiem in the Barcelona Open final on Sunday, winning his 10th title at the clay-court event.

In a battle of top 10 players, world No.5 Nadal took out the world No.9 in 90 minutes, reports Efe. After becoming the first player in the Open Era to win 10 Monte Carlo Masters titles, Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, repeated the feat just seven days later in Barcelona.

The 30-year-old Nadal's performance at the start of the 2017 tennis season has been second only to that of 35-year-old Swiss great Roger Federer.

The nine-time French Open champion has come up short at the final stage three times already this season, including losses to arch-rival Federer in the Australian Open and Miami Open finals.

The Barcelona Open is one of the tune-up events for the French Open, which gets underway on May 22.