ATP roundup: Rafael Nadal wins opener in Barcelona

[April 17, 2024]  Rafael Nadal began his Spanish homecoming with a breezy 6-2, 6-3 victory over Italian Flavio Cobolli in opening-round action at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Tuesday in Spain.
 
Playing on a protected ranking, Nadal returned to competition for the first time since Brisbane in early January. The 12-time Barcelona winner pulled out of the Australian Open with a "micro" muscle tear. No. 4 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia awaits Nadal in the Round of 32.  

Brandon Nakashima served up six aces without a double fault on his way to upsetting No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (6) in a Round of 32 match. Nakashima's next opponent will be No. 13 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, who beat Dominican qualifier Nick Hardt in straight sets.

No. 12 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain reached the Round of 16 when Harold Mayot of France retired after they split the first two sets. Italy's Matteo Arnaldi took down eighth seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina 5-7, 7-6 (8), 6-2; but Baez's countryman Facundo Diaz Acosta advanced by knocking out No. 15 Borna Coric of Croatia 6-2, 7-5.

Tiriac Open

Brazilian wild card Joao Fonseca outlasted No. 6 seed Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the Round of 32 in Bucharest, Romania.

Fonseca next will play Radu Albot, a qualifier from Moldova who took down Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1.

No. 7 seed Nuno Borges of Portugal beat Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and No. 8 Pedro Martinez of Spain defeated countryman Carlos Taberner 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic, Hungary's Marton Fucsovics and France's Corentin Moutet also won their matches.

BMW Open

No. 5 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada dropped one tiebreaker before getting revenge twice over, as he outlasted Germany's Maximilian Marterer 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3) in three hours and 24 minutes in an opening-round match in Munich.

Auger-Aliassime had 11 aces and won 56 of 72 first-service points (77.8 percent) in the marathon match. Marterer saved 6 of 8 break points to stay alive, but the Canadian advanced to face Japan's Taro Daniel, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Australian Christopher O'Connell.

In a pair of upsets, Chile's Cristian Garin beat No. 7 seed Dominik Koepfer of Germany 7-6 (3), 6-3, and German Yannick Hanfmann rallied to defeat No. 8 Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5. Other winners included Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler, Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia, Jurij Rodionov of Austria and Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

--Field Level Media

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