Top seed Kei Nishikori has criticise his own performance after crashing out 6-4, 6-3, to Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci in the first round at the Rio Open.
The world No.5 struggled to gain any consistency on the Rio courts against an inspired Bellucci, who was cheered on by his home crowd. Throughout the opening set, there was little distinguish between the two players until the ninth game when the Brazilian broke for a chance to serve for a one-set lead, which he did with ease. Nishikori’s lackluster displayed triggered an uncharacteristic action from the Japanese player as he smashed his racket out of frustration, prompting a series of boos from the animated crowd.
With Bellucci in the driving seat, there was no way back for the top seed. Dropping his serve a further three times in the second set, Nishikori eventually crashed out in just under 80 minutes.
“Everything didn’t work well.” Said Nishikori. “The conditions changed a lot from the week (in Buenos Aires) and the balls are really heavy. The balls were the most difficult thing to adjust to.”
“I couldn’t do anything today. I think it wasn’t my day.” He added.
Nishikori’s loss comes just three days after he was defeated in the final of the Argentina Open, his sixth consecutive defeat in a final on the tour. Reflecting upon his performance, the top seed said in his press conference that Bellucci also wasn’t playing his best tennis, but he couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity.
“It could be my worst match in the last few years,” the world No.5 admitted.
Bellucci’s win rewards him with an all-Brazilian second round clash with Thiago Monteiro. Monteiro defeated Gastao Elias 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
“For me it’s amazing to have a victory like this in Brazil,” Bellucci said. “He’s an unbelievable player. A top five. So it was amazing.”
Second seed Dominic Thiem carefully booked his place in the last 16 of the tournament after edging past Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 7-5. The Austrian dropped his serve only once in the match as he won 89% of his first service points (33/37) and hit 7 aces. Thiem will play another Serbian in the next round, world No.97 Dusan Lajovic.
Finally, former champion David Ferrer failed to tame last week’s Argentina Open champion Dolgopolov. The Spaniard, who was bidding to get his 700th ATP Tour match win this week, went out 6-4, 6-4, to the Ukrainian.
Dolgopolov, who is now on a six-match winning streak, will face Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in his next match.
