TENNIS RIO OPEN – Rafael Nadal started his title defence on Tuesday with a 6-4 6-1 win over home favourite Thomas Bellucci in his first match at the Rio Open ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro on his favourite clay surface. Diego Sampaolo
Rafael Nadal started his title defence on Tuesday with a 6-4 6-1 win over home favourite Thomas Bellucci in his first match at the Rio Open ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro on his favourite clay surface. Rafa broke serve in the fifth game of the opening set for 3-2 but Bellucci broke back to draw level to 4-4. Nadal broke again in the next game to go up 5-4 and held serve to close out the first set with 6-4.
Nadal never looked back and reeled off six straight games to pull away to 4-0 in the second set before Bellucci held serve. Bellucci fended off two match points as he was serving at 1-5 before Nadal clinched the win after one hour and 31 minutes.
Nadal will face his compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta who edged Carlos Berlocq 6-3 6-7 6-0.
Another Spanish star David Ferrer beat Daniel Gimeno Traver 6-4 6-2. Pablo Cuevas, who won in Sao Paulo last week beating Italian surprise Luca Vanni, upset Nicholas Almagro 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Italian Fabio Fognini came back from a set down to battle past Czech 21-year-old rising star Jiri Vesely 1-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 in a roller-coaster match. Fognini led 5-3 and served for the second set but lost the ninth game. Vesely led 6-3 in the second-set tie-break but Fognini saved three match points before clinching a hard-fought tie-break with 9-7 on his second set point to force the match to the third set.
“It was a strange match. I played really bad at the beginning. In the second set I was 5-3 up and serving for the set but I lost that game. I was a little bit unlucky to lose that game but I kept playing the best I could hanging in there, even though it was a difficult match for me. Then in the second set, after facing three match points, it was a little bit easier. The third set was difficult for both of us but more for him because he had the chance to win the match”, said Fognini
Austrian Andreas Haider Maurer got a early break in the first set before breaking serve in the second set to upset Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-2 on Wednesday to get through to the quarter finals.
Juan Monaco cruised to 6-1 5-1 against Jarkko Nieminen but the Finn clawed his way into the second set forcing the second set to the tie-break. Monaco clinched the win with 7-4 in the tie-break.
