ARTICLE Ferrero is too powerful for Martin
BARCELONA, Spain -- Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero outslugged fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4 7-6 to reach the Barcelona Open third round.
The 10th seed, runner-up to Rafael Nadal last year, was a break down at 4-3 in the first set but bounced back with three games in succession to move ahead.
Second seed Nikolay Davydenko went out 6-7 7-5 6-4 to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Ferrero, the world number 28, led 3-0 in the second but Martin hit back to force a tiebreak only for his compatriot to romp through it 7-1.
Ferrero will next meet either another former French Open champion from Spain, Albert Costa, who is due to retire after the tournament, or eighth seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.
Ninth seed Tomas Berdych was a casualty, losing 7-6 6-3 to unseeded Spaniard Albert Portas, while Finn Jarkko Nieminen and Russian Evgeny Korolev also reached the last 16.
Davydenko won a tight first set against Karlovic, taking the tiebreak 9-7, but the Croatian squared the match by taking the second set 7-5 and then took the decider 6-4.
Later on Wednesday, top seed and French Open champion Nadal opened the defense of his title with a second-round match against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
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JC faces Costa in the third round tomorrow at 14:30. Best of luck to him!
BARCELONA, Spain -- Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero outslugged fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4 7-6 to reach the Barcelona Open third round.The 10th seed, runner-up to Rafael Nadal last year, was a break down at 4-3 in the first set but bounced back with three games in succession to move ahead.
Second seed Nikolay Davydenko went out 6-7 7-5 6-4 to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Ferrero, the world number 28, led 3-0 in the second but Martin hit back to force a tiebreak only for his compatriot to romp through it 7-1.
Ferrero will next meet either another former French Open champion from Spain, Albert Costa, who is due to retire after the tournament, or eighth seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.
Ninth seed Tomas Berdych was a casualty, losing 7-6 6-3 to unseeded Spaniard Albert Portas, while Finn Jarkko Nieminen and Russian Evgeny Korolev also reached the last 16.
Davydenko won a tight first set against Karlovic, taking the tiebreak 9-7, but the Croatian squared the match by taking the second set 7-5 and then took the decider 6-4.
Later on Wednesday, top seed and French Open champion Nadal opened the defense of his title with a second-round match against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
> source
> photos
JC faces Costa in the third round tomorrow at 14:30. Best of luck to him!
