The 29-year-old had a bye in the first round and opens his Barcelona campaign today against fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers, who made the quarter-finals as a lucky loser last week in Monte Carlo, with impressive wins over Alexander Zverev and David Goffin.
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Even king of clay Rafael Nadal was struggling on Sunday to comprehend the full significance of his ninth title from ten finals at the Monte Carlo Masters.
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.
Nishikori will now face Frenchman Jeremy Chardy as he bids to join Nadal and Mats Wilander in becoming the third player to win the tournament three consecutive times. “I have another chance next week in Barcelona and I am going to try my best again”.
He then wrapped up the first set 6-3 and cruised to victory with a double-break in the second set, claiming it 6-2 to wrap up victory in an hour and a half.
Knowing Nadal, he would be only hungrier for more clay court titles after his Monte Carlo success, and would be hugely tested against Nishikori, who we all know is a quality player and has proven he can beat all the top players when playing his best tennis. “In the third I told myself I had to hit my forehand harder”.Nadal is a serial victor in the Catalan capital having won the title eight times, but has slumped to shock defeats in each of the past two years to Nicolas Almagro and Fabio Fognini. Nadal answered by converting his fifth break point in sensational style.
The transition from Monte Carlo’s slower clay to the slightly faster and livelier Barcelona bounced was evident at the start.
“I started with less depth than I wanted, but it was very important to break back straight away and from that point on it was more straightforward”.
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In their previous four contests on clay, Monfils had never taken more than three games off Nadal in a set. “But I played a solid match”. Nadal broke him in the 1st and 7th games to seal the victory. Nadal 6-3, 6-2. While Troicki edged past qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 1-6, 6-0, Fognini saw off Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
