Nadal Begins Barcelona Title Defense With Win Over Ramos

April 23, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Rafael Nadal opened up play at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell by defeating fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6(2), 6-4 in the second round of the tournament. The top-seeded Nadal bounced back nicely on the clay surface in his first match since the disappointing loss to another Spanish native, David Ferrer, last week in the quarterfinal in Monte Carlo.

Nadal got a strong fight from Ramos who was eager to take on his countryman and the top player in the world. Ramos actually led early in the first set before Nadal rallied furiously, and captured the first set 7-6(2) after forcing a tie-breaker. 

The King of Clay handed out 18 winners to 27 unforced errors to pull away from Ramos and advance into the third-round of the tournament. The match took under two hours and Nadal is now 41-1 in his career at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.

He now moves on to face Croatian Ivan Dodig, who eliminated Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-4 in a match that was completed in just over one hour.

In other action on Wednesday in Barcelona:

►Nicholas Almagro defeated Martin Klizan 7-5, 7-6(4)
►​Santiago Giraldo defeated Fabio Fognini (retired due to injury) 6-0, 4-0
►​Jurgen Melzer defeated Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 7-6(1)
►​Albert Montanes defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(5), 6-3


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Century
Bethpage

March/April 2024 Digital Edition