BARCELONA, April 30: Third seed David Nalbandian recovered from a shocking start to beat Argentine compatriot Agustin Calleri 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 on Tuesday and become the first man into the third round of the Barcelona Open.
Calleri, a semi-finalist here last year, raced through the first set in 26 minutes. Nalbandian served poorly and allowed his opponent, ranked 60, to take the initiative.
Nalbandian then squandered a 4-0 lead in the second set and was forced into a tiebreak which he won 7-2.
He broke the Calleri serve in the first game of the decider and repeated the feat in the ninth game to clinch victory. He next meets 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland or Kazakhstani lucky loser Yuri Schukin.
Seventh seed Andy Murray became the highest-ranked player to go out, beaten 6-4, 6-4 by former Wimbledon semi-finalist Mario Ancic of Croatia in the second round.
Guillermo Coria’s struggle to regain top form after injury continued. He was beaten 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 by Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in the first round.
The Argentine, runner-up at the French Open in 2004 but beset by shoulder problems since and playing with an injury-protected ranking of 105, led 4-2 in the decider but could not make the advantage tell against the world No 138.
Last month, Coria lost 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 to Italian Flavio Cipolla in a Challenger event in Naples.
Feliciano Lopez, the Spanish 16th seed, advanced when Argentine Jose Acauso retired injured when trailing 5-2 in the first set. His 10th seeded compatriot Nicolas Almagro and Latvian Ernests Gulbis were also the beneficiaries of retirements by their opponents.
Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Second round: Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) bt Daniel Gimeno (Spain) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5; Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt 7-Andy Murray (Britain) 6-4, 6-4; 3-David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
First round: Mikhail Kukushkin (Russia) bt 12-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-4, 6-4; Alberto Martin (Spain) bt Matteo Marrai (Italy) 6-3, 6-3; Potito Starace (Italy) bt Peter Luczak (Australia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; 10-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 6-2 — Troicki retired; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-4, 4-2 — Tipsarevic retired; 16-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 5-2 — Acasuso retired; Albert Montanes (Spain) bt Marcel Granollers (Spain) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) bt Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; Pablo Cuevas
(Uruguay) bt Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Filippo Volandri (Italy) bt Juergen Melzer (Austria) 6-2, 6-4.
INJURED SEEDS QUIT
MUNICH: Former world No 2 Tommy Haas is doubtful for next month’s French Open after pulling out of Munich Open with a persistent shoulder injury just a few hours after defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew.
It was a terrible Tuesday for Munich’s organisers as the two players used on the tournament’s advertising posters pulled out within hours of each other as third-seed Kohlschreiber and fifth-seed Haas left without playing a point.
After his first-round game against compatriot Michael Berrer was pushed back from Tuesday because of heavy rain in Bavaria, Haas was scheduled to be the first game on centre court on Wednesday.
But having struggled with a shoulder injury all year, Haas — who is now 36th in the ATP rankings — withdrew on Tuesday evening and said an appearance at the French Open at Roland Garros in late May is “doubtful”.
Tournament director Patrik Kuehnen, Germany’s Davis Cup captain, put on a brave face after two more doses of bad news following the weekend withdrawals of Thomas Berdych and French duo Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet.
Kuehnen had been left stunned earlier in the day when defending champion Kohlschreiber withdrew with flu moments before he was due on court.
When play finally began on Tuesday afternoon after heavy rain had spoiled the day’s schedule, Kohlschreiber’s 11th-hour replacement Julio Silva from Brazil recovered from a nervous start to beat Bachinger 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Haas and Kohlschreiber aside, there were no real upsets on court with second seed Fernando Gonzalez from Chile beating Israeli Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-4, while Russian fourth seed Igor Andreev knocked out France’s Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4.
Results:
First round: Gianluca Naso (Italy) bt Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4; 4-Igor Andreev (Russia) bt Gael Monfils (France) 6-3, 6-4; 2-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-3, 6-4; Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) bt Rainer Eitzinger (Austria) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2; Philipp Petzschner (Germany) bt Evgeny Korolev (Russia) 6-4, 0-6, 6-2; Julio Silva (Brazil) bt Matthias Bachinger (Germany) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.—Agencies
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