Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2016: Wednesday Tennis Results and Updated Schedule
Rafael Nadal cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Marcel Granollers during Wednesday's Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2016 action, starting his bid to win the tournament in dominant fashion.
The clay specialist survived a slight scare in the first set, when he took a hard fall, to put away the local favourite without wasting too much energy.
Kei Nishikori cruised to a two-set win over Thiemo de Bakker, and Philipp Kohlschreiber didn’t have any trouble getting past Pablo Carreno Busta.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Here’s a look at Wednesday’s results:
| Rafael Nadal (1) bt. Marcel Granollers | 6-3, 6-2 |
| Kei Nishikori (2) bt. Thiemo de Bakker | 6-4, 6-2 |
| Albert Montanes (W) bt. Joao Sousa (14) | 6-1, 6-3 |
| Fabio Fognini (12) bt. Mikhail Youzhny | 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 |
| Victor Troicki (8) bt. Marton Fucsovics | 6-4, 1-6, 6-0 |
| Philipp Kohlschreiber (10) bt. Pablo Carreno Busta | 6-2, 6-1 |
| Alexander Zverev bt. Thomaz Bellucci (15) | 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-5 |
| Malek Jaziri bt. Renzo Olivo (L) | 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 |
| Radek Stepanek (Q) bt. Edouard Roger-Vasselin (L) | 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 |
| Andrey Kuznetsov (16) bt. Inig oCervantes | 7-6 (4), 6-4 |
| Feliciano Lopez (7) bt. Ivan Dodig | 7-6 (5), 6-4 |
| PAblo Cuevas (9) bt. Albert Ramos-Vinolas | 6-4, 7-5 |
To access the schedule for this year’s Barcelona Open, visit the ATP's official website.
Recap
Nadal has been in fantastic form of late and just won the Monte Carlo Masters, and his strong form showed early in his match against Granollers on Wednesday. While the crowd backed the local favourite in hopes of an upset, Nadal quickly made it clear that wasn’t going to happen with points like this, via TennisTV:
The defensive specialist kept his play simple, opening up the court with slices and drop shots and beating Granollers from the baseline with raw power. His compatriot did a great job in the return game and even grabbed a break at one point during the first set, but he always appeared to be on the back foot.
There was a moment of major concern for the tournament favourite, however. As shared by tennis writer Ricky Dimon, he took a bad tumble midway through the first set and appeared to twist his ankle:
According to Live Tennis, Nadal asked for the trainer but promptly dismissed him when he arrived, and he was fine to continue.
The fall slowed down Nadal a tad toward the back of the first set, but he still grabbed the advantage, serving out the set.
Nadal jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second set, and with his serve clicking, he patiently worked his way through the set, keeping Granollers moving.
Nadal broke Granollers again in the seventh game of the second set, allowing him to serve out the match in the following game and book his spot in the next round.
While the tournament favourite looked a little shaky with his serve at times in the first set, he bounced back nicely and didn't waste too much energy disposing of Granollers. An in-form Nadal is almost impossible to stop on clay, and looking at his results from the past two weeks, it's hard to imagine him dropping a match in Barcelona.
Nishikori needed less than 70 minutes to grab a 6-4, 6-2 win over De Bakker with some clinical tennis.
The Japanese star mustered just two break changes but converted them both, and he took care of business with his serve the rest of the way.
Per Record's Jose Morgado, Nishikori is on quite the run in Barcelona:
He later told reporters the windy conditions bothered him a bit, per the event's official website: “I’m happy to be back in Barcelona. Today’s conditions were tough with the wind and I’m happy to be in the next round."
Nishikori will face Jeremy Chardy in the next round.
Fabio Fognini grabbed a routine win over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, while Kohlschreiber surrendered just three games to Carreno Busta. Wild card Albert Montanes caused the biggest shock of the day, knocking out Joao Sousa, the 14th-seeded player.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
