Nadal progresses smoothly at Barcelona Open
Spaniard avenges last year’s loss to compatriot but US Open winner Cilic sent crashing.
Rafael Nadal avenged last year’s loss to Nicolas Almagro by beating his fellow Spaniard 6-3, 6-1 at the Barcelona Open, while US Open champion Marin Cilic slumped to a second-round exit.
The second-seeded Nadal, who lost last week to Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semi-finals, rebounded with a solid performance to advance to the third round.
Almagro upset Nadal on the same red clay court last year to end the eight-time champion’s run of 41 consecutive wins at the tournament he has dominated for almost a decade.
Nadal next faces either Fabio Fognini or Russian teenager Andrey Rublev.
Cilic lost to Victor Estrella of the Dominican Republic 6-4, 6-4. Estrella will next play Martin Klizan after the Slovak rallied past Juan Monaco 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.
“I was not too happy with the way I played,” Cilic said. “I made a lot of unforced errors. I feel I still need several matches to get my form to a good stage.”
Santiago Giraldo of Colombia beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to reach a third-round meeting against top-seeded Kei Nishikori, setting up a rematch of last year’s final won by the Japanese.