RAFAEL NADAL WINS OPENER IN BARCELONA, FERRER NOT AS FORTUNATE By Ricky Dimon

Written by: Staff on 24th April 2014

RAFAEL NADAL WINS OPENER IN BARCELONA, FERRER NOT AS FORTUNATE By Ricky Dimon

epa04174759 Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal rests during a training session at Real Club tennis center ahead his participation at the Conde de Godo tennis tournament, in Barcelona, north-eastern Spain, 21 April 2014. The 62th Conde de Godo event runs fron 19 to 27 April 2014. EPA/ANDREU DALMAU |

Although he did not do it convincingly, Rafael Nadal bounced back from a Monte-Carlo quarterfinal loss to David Ferrer with a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over Albert Ramos in the second round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Wednesday afternoon. Nadal served at 73 percent and capitalized on all three of his break-point chances before advancing in one hour and 56 minutes.

The top-seeded Spaniard overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first set and had to make another recovery in the tiebreaker after failing to serve out the opener at 6-5. Ramos stayed on level terms throughout the second frame of play before getting broken to love at 4-5 to abruptly end the match.

“I need to improve everything,” Nadal assured. “I’m working every day to play more aggressively. I need to find the feeling of being dominant in the points. I feel that sometimes I’m hitting balls from good positions and I’m not able to create the right spaces, to find winners. I need to try and find that for the next match.

“Obviously I didn’t play my best match, but after the defeat in Monte-Carlo, the next match on court was never going to be easy. I am happy with the way I fought and proud of the victory today. The victories are more important when you haven’t played well. I feel happy to be through on a tough day for the top seeds.”

“Tough” is an understatement. Four of the top eight seeds bowed out of the tournament on Wednesday and none of those four even earned a single set.

No. 2 David Ferrer was upset by Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-2, No. 3 Fabio Fognini retired with a thigh injury while trailing Santiago Giraldo 6-0, 4-0, No. 7 Jerzy Janowicz saw his slump continue via a 6-4, 7-6(1) loss to Jurgen Melzer, and No. 8 Alexandr Dolgopolov went down to Albert Montanes 7-6(5), 6-3.

Next up for Nadal on Thursday is Ivan Dodig, against whom the world No. 1 is 2-1 lifetime. Dodig’s upset of Nadal came at the 2011 Montreal Masters, where the Croat pulled off a stunning 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) upset.

Topics: Barcelona, David Ferrer, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, sports news, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

April 24, 2014 at 7:59 am

RAFAEL NADAL WINS OPENER IN BARCELONA, FERRER NOT AS FORTUNATE By @RD_Tennistalk – http://t.co/5GNE5Oxf0X @RafaelNadal @DavidFerrer87