Nadal To Meet Granollers In Barcelona Opener
Nadal To Meet Granollers In Barcelona Opener
Spaniard superstar will aim to improve his 43-3 record in the city
Rafael Nadal will begin his quest for a ninth title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell against fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers on Wednesday. Nadal, who lifted his 28th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (d. Monfils) last week, leads Granollers 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Granollers struck 10 aces in a 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniel Munoz de la Nava for his second-round berth.
Alexandr Dolgopolov, the No. 11 seed, reached the third round by saving one match point at 7/8 in the second set tie-break against Evegeny Donskoy. Dolgopolov triumphed 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-4.
Former World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny proved to be too strong for Rajeev Ram in a 6-2, 6-2 win over 69 minutes. He now faces No. 12 seed Fabio Fognini in the second round.