Eight-time Barcelona champion Rafa Nadal started his campaign in the Barcelona Open Trofeo Conde de Godò with a straight set win in a re-match against his compatriot and 2013 finalist Nicolas Almagro, who beat the Mallorcan legend last year in the quarter finals for the first time after ten consecutive defeats. Almagro has now dropped to World Number 133 in the Ranking after a difficult 2014 season ruined by injury problems.
The 6-3 6-1 win in one hour and 39 minutes was not so easy as the score suggests. After facing some problems in the second game where he went down 0-30 in the second game of the opening set, Nadal got the break in the seventh game with a backhand passing shot to take a 4-3 lead. Nadal broke again for 6-3 to close out the first set. Almagro hit 19 unforced errors to 9 for Nadal in the first set.
Nadal was broken in the first game of the second set to 15 but he broke back to 15 and reeled off five consecutive games to cruise to 5-1. Almgro dropped his serve for the fourth consecutive time in the fourth game to go down 1-3 after three big errors with his serve. Nadal broke again in the sixth game before sealing the win with 6-1 after a very long seventh game with 28 points where Nadal saved seven break points before converting his fifth match point
Nadal hit 19 winners to 22 unforced errors and converted on only five of his ten break points.
Nadal, who won in Barcelona in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 extended his lead to 12-1 in his head-to-head matches over Almagro. They met for the fourth time in Barcelona. Nadal beat Almagro in the 2006 semifinal and in the 2013 final. Almagro broke the 10-losing-streak losing streak beating Nadal last year in the quarter finals. With his win last year Almagro put an end to Nadal’s streak of 41 consecutive wins in this tournament
Nadal will face Fabio Fognini who rallied from a set and a break down to edge 17-year-old Russian rising star Andrey Rublev with 3-6 6-4 6-1.
Rublev cruised to 5-1 in the first set Fognini recovered a break but Rublev clinched the set on his second set point chance.
Fognini went down a break to trail 0-2 in the second set but he broke back and won two good service games. He recovered from 0-30 Fognini reeled off nine consecutive points on his serve and broke serve for 5-3 with a down the line backhand. Rublev recovered from 15-40 to win the ninth game for 4-5. Fognini closed out the second set. After a very long first game in the third set Fognini pulled away to 6-1.
Thirty-four year-old Victor Estrella Burgos from Dominican Republic, upset last year’s US Open champion Marin Cilic with 6-4 6-4. Burgos broke serve once in each set in the ninth game against Cilic who went up 3-1 in the first set and recovered from a break down in the second set.
In the second set Burgos got the decisive break in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead before holding serve to love. He sealed the win with a forehand on the match point
Estrella Burgos, who won his first ATP title in Quito and the first player from Dominican Republic to finish a season in the top-100 when he was ranked World Number 53 at the end of 2014, will take on Martin Klizan who fought back from a set down to edge Juan Monaco 5-7 6-0 6-3. Klizan, who won the Casablanca title, is in good form but Estrella Burgos beat him 6-2 6-2 in the previous head-to-head match in the quarter finals in Quito en route to winning his first title against Feliciano Lopez
Burgos, who won just one match in his past five tournaments, scored his first ever match against a top-10 player.
Burgos, who reached the third round at the 2014 US Open, continued his progress in 2015 and became the oldest first time ATP tour winner in the Open Era with his title in Quito.
“The conditions did not suit me as much today. It was pretty heavy and very tough to put the ball away. It went much in Victor’s favour. I was not happy with the way I played today. I feel I still need several matches to get my form to a good stage. I made a lot of unforced errors. I expect a lot of ups and downs in the first part of the season”, said a disappointed Cilic, who is struggling to return to his best form after recovering from an injury.
Last year’s Barcelona finalist Santiago Giraldo from Colombia edged past Joao Sousa 6-3 3-6 6-1 setting up a re-match of last year’s Barcelona final against Kei Nishikori in the third round.
David Ferrer, who reached the Barcelona final four times losing each time against Rafael Nadal, converted on four of his eight break points in his 6-2 6-3 win over his compatriot Albert Montanes after 85 minutes. Ferrer will face Elias Yimer (a Swedish player of Ethiopian origin) who fought back from a set down to upset this year’s Australian Open quarter finalist Nick Kyrgios with 2-6 7-5 7-6 (9-7) after two hours and 27 minutes.
“I am very happy right now after losing in the first round for the last two years. I felt great today, perhaps a little bit tired during the second set”, said Ferrer.
Kyrgios won the first set with two breaks of serve in the 4th and in the 8th games. In the second set both players saved a total of four break point chances. Ymer got the crucial break in the 11th game to take the 6-5 lead. He recovered from 15-30 to close out the second set. Kyrgios broke serve early in the third set and opened up a 3-0 lead. The young Swede recovered from 1-4 in the decider and drew level to 4-4 by reeling of three consecutive games. Ymer fended off a match point when he was 5-6 down in the tie-break of the third set after Kyrgios committed a double fault before clinching the win with 9-7 on the second match point.
Ymer, who is now ranked World Number 192, showed his great potential as future star of the circuit.
“Playing Nick is always going to be tough. He showed us that it’s possible to play against the big guys. He inspired me a lot when he reached the quarter finals at Wimbledon. I know him well. In Juniors we played together all the time. It’s the first time I have won two matches on the ATP Tour, said Ymer
Benoit Paire recovered from a set down to overcome Ernests Gulbis 1-6 6-2 6-3. After losing the first set Paire won 12 games to 5 and broke serve four times en route to winning the match easily.
Marcel Granollers beat Jo Wilfred Tsonga 6-4 6-2.
Pablo Andujar fought back from a set down to edge past Leonardo Mayer with 2-6 6-1 6-2. Phillip Kohlschreiber beat Andrey Kuznetsov 7-6 (7-1) 6-3
