David Goffin recovered from a set and a double break down, saving one match point at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to beat Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 on Tuesday.
The Belgian had looked down and out at 4-6, 1-5 against the Barcelona-born star, but fought back, saving a match point with aggressive baseline play before coming to the net and extracting an error from his opponent. Goffin improves to 10-5 this season and now owns a 2-1 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with the Spaniard. Granollers had won their only previous encounter on the red dirt in Monte-Carlo two years ago.
Goffin advances to the third round for the second consecutive year, where he will meet either Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer or 16th seed Karen Khachanov.
Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena set up a second-round meeting with 10-time champion Rafael Nadal, beating Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2, 6-4. The 25-year-old needed one hour and 35 minutes to advance, breaking the Austrian five times en route to victory.
Martin Klizan set up a second-round encounter with sixth seed Novak Djokovic after a three-set win over Federico Delbonis. The 2015 semi-finalist (l. to Nishikori) beat the Argentine 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 in just under three hours to level their FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 2-2.
#NextGenATP Spaniard Jaume Munar won his second ATP World Tour match, beating Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finalist Joao Sousa 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The 20-year-old Barcelona resident, who reached the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Barletta two weeks ago, needed two hours and 35 minutes to secure the win and will next face 2017 finalist Dominic Thiem.
Roberto Bautista Agut battled from a set down to defeat Ivo Karlovic, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4. The 30-year-old Spaniard survived an onslaught of 15 aces to overcome the Croatian in one hour, 56 minutes.
Guido Pella also progressed to the second round, hitting nine aces and winning 80 per cent of his first-service points to move past Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk 6-4, 6-4.
In doubles, top seeds Lukas Kubot and Marcelo Melo took just 51 minutes to book their place in the quarter-finals. The Polish-Brazilian duo beat Khachanov and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-0. Kubot and Melo dropped just six points behind their serves and didn’t face a single break point throughout the match.
There were shocks, however, as second seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers were defeated in the first round. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champions were defeated in straight sets by Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who prevailed 7-6(7), 6-3 in 80 minutes. Kontinen and Peers have won just two of their eight matches on tour since winning the first event of the season at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.
Lucky losers Nicolas Jarry and Guido Pella produced another upset, defeating Jamie Murray and 2013 champion Bruno Soares (w/Peya) 7-5, 7-5. Jarry and Pella saved eight of the 11 break points they faced and will meet fellow lucky losers Jamie Cerretani and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers for a spot in the semi-finals.
Did You Know?
Roberto Carballes Baena won six matches in seven days to win the Ecuador Open in February. The Spaniard beat a trio of seeded players en route to the title, rallying from a set down in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals before defeating countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas in three sets in the championship match.