Pablo Andujar was unable to cause another shock as Kei Nishikori retained his Barcelona Open crown with a 6-4 6-4 victory in the final on Sunday.
Spaniard Andujar reached the ATP 500 showpiece with a surprise last-four success over third seed and compatriot David Ferrer.
However, the world number 66 could not repeat the trick against Nishikori, as the Japanese top seed claimed a relatively comfortable straight-sets win.
Andujar looked far from overawed about facing a man placed some 61 places above him in the rankings, breaking Nishikori in the first game of the match.
However, the defending champion broke straight back and the first set went with serve until the 10th game, when Nishikori made the crucial second break to move 1-0 up.
To his credit, Andujar was unperturbed and broke Nishikori once again in the first game of the second.
But Nishikori bided his time before drawing level at 4-4 with a break of his own and, once again, broke Andujar in the 10th game of the set to take it 6-4 and seal his ninth career title.