ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal began his quest for a fifth consecutive Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell title with a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win over Portuguese qualifier Frederico Gil, Wednesday at the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament. Nadal had also defeated Gil last month at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.
“In Miami I played pretty badly against him,” said Nadal. “Today I played a more serious match, without making any big changes. Last time we played I felt he could have won a set, but not today. Of course because I stayed focus. He's fighter and you need to be concentrated all the time in order to not let him get into the match and win a set. First rounds are always difficult because you need to adjust to the new conditions. It was a relatively comfortable match and I’m happy to have won without suffering too much.”
Nadal extended his winning streak on clay to 22 matches and he has now compiled an outstanding 139-4 match record on clay since 2005. The 22-year-old Mallorca native is 22-1 in Barcelona and 30-3 overall this season with three titles. In addition, since the beginning of Monte-Carlo last year when he captured his first ATP World Tour title of 2008 through his last tournament in Monte-Carlo, Nadal owns an overall 90-8 record with 11 titles.
Two other Spaniards, No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 6 Tommy Robredo, also advanced to the third round courtesy of straight-sets wins Wednesday. Verdasco defeated Ecuadorian qualifier Nicolas Lapentti 7-5, 6-3, while Robredo ousted wild card Gaston Gaudio 7-6(6), 6-1 in a meeting of former Barcelona champions.
Tenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro faced a tougher challenge in his second-round match, made to battle for two hours and 23 minutes in a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela. Almagro, a semi-finalist in 2006 at Barcelona (l. to Nadal), led the circuit with the most match wins on clay last season (30-8).
Third seed Nikolay Davydenko dismissed France’s Arnaud Clement 7-6(2), 6-2 to secure his place in the third round. The Russian saved five break points in a tight first set before clinching a one-set lead by winning the tie-break 7-2. He then stepped up a gear in the second set and converted two of six break points to wrap up victory and improve to a 4-0 career lead over Clement in one hour and 56 minutes.
The 27-year-old Davydenko made his comeback from a foot injury by reaching the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarter-finals (l. to Murray) last week and is looking to build on his comeback at a venue where he has enjoyed success on previous visits. The right-hander reached the semi-finals (l. to Ferrero) at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona in 2005 and advanced to the quarter-finals in 2003 (l. to Moya) and 2007 (W/O vs. Canas).
He next faces a daunting third round match against No. 16 seed Feliciano Lopez, who rallied to defeat fellow Spaniard Santiago Ventura 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Lopez leads the head-to-head series against Davydenko 4-0, last defeating the Top 10 player in three sets in the 2008 Dubai semi-finals.
Czech No. 15 seed Tomas Berdych was tested by Spain’s Oscar Hernandez before prevailing 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the third round in Barcelona for the first time in three visits. The 28th-ranked Monte-Carlo resident improved to 9-8 on the season, highlighted by fourth-round showings at the Australian Open (l. to Federer in five sets) and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l. to Djokovic).
Other seeds enjoyed comfortable wins in their second round matches, with No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 7 David Nalbandian, No. 8 Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 9 Radek Stepanek advancing in straight sets.
Italian Potito Starace and Belgian Christophe Rochus recorded the only wins over seeded players on Wednesday. Starace ousted No. 14 Robin Soderling 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2, while Rochus outlasted 13th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-3 to earn the unenviable task of playing Nadal in the third round.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3302.ASP)
