Rafael Nadal is making a second consecutive appearance at the Rio Open and this is the third straight year in which he had played in the Golden Swing. Still, it’s not every day that you see the 14-time Grand Slam champion play at an event worth fewer than 1000 points.
Nadal’s bid to defend his 500 points from last season’s Rio title got off to a good enough start on Tuesday night when he beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-1. The top seed started slow but broke his opponent six times and lost a mere five service points in the second set.
Nadal-Bellucci highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBsnznMP-0g]
Three men advanced to the second round without having to finish the job on their own. Blaz Rola got a retirement from Leonardo Mayer, Juan Monaco was cruising 6-3, 3-0 when Santiago Giraldo retired, and Federico Delbonis saw Diego Schwartzman call it quits early in their third set.
One of the players who fought all the way to the finish on Tuesday was not one of the likeliest suspects to turn in such a performance. No. 4 seed Fabio Fognini trailed Jiri Vesely by a set and 6-3 in the second-set tiebreaker but saved three match points in succession and ultimately prevailed 1-6, 7-6(7), 6-1.
Fognini’s day summed up in 10 seconds:
Up next for Fabio Fognini is Pablo Andujar, while Nadal is set to face Pablo Carreno Busta.
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