Rafael Nadal defeated
Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, 6–4, 6–7(6–8), 7–5 to win the singles title at the 2021 Barcelona Open. Nadal saved a championship point en route to his record-extending 12th Barcelona Open title and 61st
ATP Tour singles title on
clay. It became the second tournament at which Nadal had earned 12 or more victories, after the
French Open. At three hours and 38 minutes, the final match was at the time the longest best-of-three-sets tour-level final since the
ATP began tracking statistics in 1991, until the
2023 Cincinnati Masters final. Tsitsipas, who had also lost to Nadal in his first career ATP singles final at this tournament in
2018, was in contention to win his first
ATP 500 tournament title on his seventh attempt.[1]
Dominic Thiem was the reigning champion from when the tournament was last held in
2019,[2] but he did not return to compete.[3]