Nadal Quickly Advances at 2012 Barcelona Open
Spain’s Rafael Nadal has opened his 2012 Barcelona Open run with a quick victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. He had 15 break point chances and converted six of them as he took the match in just 81 min. Nadal ended a 10-month title hiatus with his win over world number one-ranked Novak Djokovic at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters this past week.
Nadal’s fellow countryman David Ferrer also had a quick victory over Filip Krajinovic, a Serbian wild card, in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 in a match that lasted just 58 min. Ferrer has reached his 25th match victory of the season after he broke serve five times and won an overall 78 percent of points with his first serve. He is now has an overall record of 22-9 in Barcelona. Ferrer is a three-time runner-up for the title in Barcelona in 2008, 2009 and again in 2011. Ferrer will now face Albert Montanes, who was able to oust Bernard Tomic in three sets, 6-0, 5-7, 7-5 in two hours and 19 min. Montanes, who hails from Barcelona, won five ATP World Tour clay-court titles and has been a semifinalist at this past ATP World Tour in 2004.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori also reached the third round in Barcelona after he took down Mikhail Kukushkin in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. He was able to convert five out of 11 break points to take his victory in just over two hours. Feliciano Lopez defeated Italy’s Flavio Cipolla in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to advance as well. Milos Raonic of Canada, took a straight set win over Igor Andreev, of Russia, 6-4, 6-1. Awaiting Raonic is Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
