No. 4 seed and last year's runner-up David Ferrer reached the third round of the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, an ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament, with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Kazakhstan qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin on Tuesday.
Ferrer, who notched his 20th match win of the season (20-8), converted four of seven break points and saved six of eight on his serve. The 27-year-old Valencia resident also improved to 11-6 in Barcelona.
No. 12 seed Igor Andreev (pictured) made short work of his second-round clash with Alberto Martin, dismissing the Spanish wild card 6-2, 6-2 in just 62 minutes.
Andreev saved the one break point he faced on serve while converting four of seven break point opportunities on Martin’s serve. The Muscovite dropped just eight points on serve throughout the match and won nearly half (48 per cent) of points on Martin’s serve in the pair’s third meeting (Andreev leads 3-0).
Argentine wild card Gaston Gaudio fought back from a break down in the final set to oust compatriot Diego Junqueira 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Gaudio captured the title at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona in 2002 (d. Costa) and reached the final in 2004 (l. to Robredo in five sets). He has a 19-6 career record in Barcelona.
Tuesday’s victory marked World No. 966 Gaudio’s first tour-level win since May 2007, when he defeated Marc Gicquel to reach the Roland Garros second round (l. to Hewitt in five sets). The 30-year-old Buenos Aires native recorded his greatest achievement in 2004, when he defeated Guillermo Coria 8-6 in the fifth set to win his lone Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros. He reached a career-high No. 5 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings the following year on 25 April.
No. 9 seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic also won his 20th match of the year (20-7) as he edged out Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and five minutes. Stepanek saved 11 of 13 break points while converting two of nine break point chances.
No. 11 seed and wild card entry Marat Safin, who won the title in 2000, fell to Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-1 in the first round. The 29-year-old Russian slipped to 6-7 on the season.
No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet made a successful season clay court debut with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic. He will next meet Belgian Christophe Rochus on Wednesday.
Top Swede and No. 14 seed Robin Soderling needed only 61 minutes to beat Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 6-4. Soderling converted four of eight break points and only lost his serve once.
Madrid native and No. 16 seed Feliciano Lopez defeated Jarkko Nieminen for the first time in six ATP World Tour meetings as he ousted the Finn 6-2, 6-1 in 52 minutes. Lopez evened his Barcelona mark to 9-9 and he will next face countryman Santiago Ventura in the second round.
Two other Spaniards reached the second round as Oscar Hernandez ousted Eduardo Schwank 6-2, 6-4, and qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver defeated Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3.
In a clash of two former Top 10 players, France’s Arnaud Clement dismissed 2007 finalist Guillermo Canas 7-6(0), 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with third-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko – who received a bye through the first round.
Russian Mikhail Youzhny rallied past Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3, in two hours and 44 minutes. He will next face No. 8 seed and last week's Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters semi-finalist Stanislas Wawrinka.
Qualifier Nicolas Lapentti, the oldest player in the draw at 32, eliminated Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, to even his match record at 7-7 on the season. Lapentti will take on No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3291.ASP)
