Defending Champion Nishikori Rolls in Barcelona Opener
World number five Kei Nishikori moved into the third-round of the Barcelona Open on Tuesday, moving past Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-4.
The defending champion Nishikori needed just 69 minutes to push past Gabashvili. He capitalized on two of his three break point chances, one in each set, to dictate the pace of the match. On serve, he only allowed one break point chance and saved it, never allowing the Russian to work himself into the contest.
“It was a great first match,” said Nishikori of his clay-court season opener. “It was my first match of the year on clay, so I was little tight, but I played a great two sets today.”
While he struggled a little bit with his first serve percentage, Nishikori converted 90 percent of his second serves into points, winning 18 of the 20 points on his second serve.
The Japan native will take on the winner of 15th-seeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo and Portgual’s Joao Sousa.
The biggest upset of the day came off the racquet of 17-year-old Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev, who stunned Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in straight sets, 7-6(4), 6-3.
Rublev, ranked 329th in the world, beat the 37th-ranked and former Barcelona champion Verdasco in just one hour and 32 minutes. He broke three times, including twice in the first set, and saved five break points of his own to notch the upset.
Up next for the teenager is 13th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini in the second round.
Seventh-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut and ninth-seeded Tommy Robredo both pushed through into the third-round with victories on Tuesday.
Bautista-Agut knocked off Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4 while Robredo got past Russia’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-2.
Other winners in Barcelona on Tuesday included Juan Monaco, Victor Estrella Burgos, Albert Montanes and Marsel Ilhan, all of whom reached the second-round.
