Ferrer then traveled back to Spain to play in the 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, where he was seeded fourth. Due to his seeding, he received a by into the second round, where he beat Carlos Berlocq, and Victor Hănescu in the third round to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Jürgen Melzer, and then defeated Nicolás Almagro for a spot in his third Barcelona final. However, in the final, he lost to Rafael Nadal for the second week in a row. Ferrer then traveled to Madrid to play in the 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open as the sixth seed. Due to his seeding, he received a bye into the second round, where he defeated Adrian Mannarino. He then went on to play Sergiy Stakhovsky, whom he defeated in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Ferrer lost to Novak Djokovic. It was his first defeat in their four meetings on clay. Ferrer then pulled out of Rome, due to injury, but then traveled to Paris to play in the French Open.