Top-seeded Kei Nishikori began the defense of his Barcelona Open title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia on Tuesday.
Nicolas Almagro also advanced to the second round, where he is to face eight-time winner Rafael Nadal, after opponent Paolo Lorenzi retired 10 minutes into the match with Almagro leading 3-0. Last year, Almagro stunned Nadal in the quarter-finals, ending Nadal’s run of 41 straight wins at the tournament.
Nishikori hit 22 winners and held his serve to win the second-round match on the outdoor clay court in 1 hour, 8 minutes.
Photo: EPA
Nishikori took control of the match by hitting 11 winners and breaking Gabashvili before finishing out the first set by holding his final serve to love.
Gabashvili tossed his racket down after a third double fault cost him his service as he fell behind 3-2 in the second set. Nishikori then struck an ace to finish the match.
“It was a great first match,” Nishikori said. “It was my first match of the year on clay, so I was little tight, but I played a great two sets today.”
In the day’s other second-round matches, seventh-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut advanced after beating Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4, while Tommy Robredo downed Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-2.
Earlier, Russian teenager Andrey Rublev beat 2010 champion Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the first round.
The 17-year-old Rublev, who entered as a qualifier ranked 329th, broke the Spaniard three times and saved five break-point chances.
Albert Montanes also made a comeback, beating Ricardas Berankis 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, while last year’s US Open winner Marin Cilic is to play Victor Estrella after Estrella ousted Dominic Thiem 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Juan Monaco got past Alejandro Gonzalez 7-5, 6-1 and is to play Martin Klizan, while Pablo Cuevas beat Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 7-5.
Marsel Ilhan beat James Ward 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-1 in just over two hours, while Sousa edged Kenny de Schepper 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Nastase Tiriac TROPHY
Fifth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez lost only five service points in beating qualifier Lorenzo Giustino 6-2, 6-0 on Tuesday at the Nastase Tiriac Trophy.
The 2013 champion from Spain next faces Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Baghdatis beat Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
Also, eighth-seeded Simone Bolelli saved five of seven break-point chances to beat Andrey Golubev 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, and wild-card Janko Tipsarevic defeated qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 6-4, 6-3.
A quarter-finalist two years ago, Tipsarevic was playing in his third match since October 2013. He recently returned after a persistent foot injury.
Seventh-seeded Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic defeated Diego Schwartzman, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), while Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic beat Jurgen Zopp of Estonia 7-5, 6-1. Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria overcame Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 7-5, 0-6, 6-4.
Porsche Grand Prix
Eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain needed three sets to overcome Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2, 6-7 (7/5), 6-4 in the first round of the Porsche Grand Prix on Tuesday.
Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic defeated Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (10/8), 6-4.
Serbian fifth seed Ana Ivanovic was eliminated 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 by Caroline Garcia of France, while Ekaterina Makarova of Russia defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Other first-round winners in the indoor clay tournament were Marina Melnikova of Russia, Madison Brengle of the US and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
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