Men Tennis Update – Barcelona and Bucharest

Written by: Staff on 24th April 2013

Men Tennis Update - Barcelona and Bucharest

epa03666843 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic returns the ball to Fabio Fognini of Italy during their third round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 18 April 2013. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER |

Barcelona

Tomas Berdych saved a match point as he rallied to beat Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two and a half hours with Davydenko missing his winning chance while leading a set and 5-4. From that point on, Berdych reversed the momentum, winning the second set and taking the victory his ninth ace in on match point the third.

German eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Russian Alex Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(2). Elsewhere in the second round with all 16 seeds given byes, French tenth seeds Jeremy Chardy eliminated Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-4 and colourful Ernests Gulbis knocked out Spanish 12th seed Fernando Verdasco, the 2010 champion at the edition in which Rafael Nadal did not play, 6-3, 6-4

In first-round matches at the Real Club de Tenis, Australian Bernard Tomic earned his first clay win after a first-round loss a week ago, beating French qualifier Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in just under two hours. De Schepper saved 14 of 18 break points chances in defeat.

Spain’s Albert Ramos defeated German lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6(2) and Blaz Kavcic hammered Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-0. Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo beat compatriot and occasional Nadal doubles partner Marc Lopez 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Nadal will now have a target for his second round start as he bids for an eight title at the event. The second seed behind David Ferrer faces recent Argentine Davis Cup hero Carlos Berlocq, who booked his place for a second meeting this season with Nadal through a win over Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday.

After losing his bid for a ninth Monte Carlo trophy in succession last weekend, Nadal is focused on recovering his form for the French Open. “I will try my best now to play a very good week in Barcelona, it’s a tournament that I love. We have Barcelona, then we have Madrid, then we have Rome. I have enough time (before the French Open),” said the Spaniard.

Nadal beat Berlocq in the pair’s quarter-final two months ago in Sao Paolo as Nadal was making his return to the courts after sitting out seven long months from last summer with his chronic knee injuries. Berlocq scored the decisive point in his nation’s 3-2 Davis Cup quarter-final win over France.

Bucharest

Seeds split the difference at the clay event, with German No. 5 Florian Mayer beating Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 6-0, 7-6(1). Mayer won his first ATP title at the tournament two years ago and stands a career 12-6 at the venue. Seventh seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Tobias Kamke earned another German win as he beat Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-3.But home player Victor Hanescu got one back against Germany with his defeat of Matthias Bachinger 6-4, 6-3.

Santiago Giraldo of Colombia put out Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 6-1, 6-2; Czech Lukas Rosol stopped Gilles Muller 7-6(4), 6-2. Gael Monfils, his ranking down to 105 after injury, won his first clay match since April 8 in Houston with a defeat of Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4 6-2. Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Czech Jaroslav Pospisil 6-2 6-2 and Finn Jarkko Nieminen came back to stop Russian Evgeny Donskoy 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).

Topics: Alex Kuznetsov, Bucharest tennis news, Florian Mayer, Nikolay Davydenko, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Real Club de Tenis, Sports, Tennis News, Tobias Kamke, Tomas Berdych