David Goffin fights back to beat Marcel Granollers at Barcelona Open | Tennis News - Hindustan Times
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David Goffin fights back to beat Marcel Granollers at Barcelona Open

Reuters, Barcelona | ByReuters
Apr 25, 2018 10:17 AM IST

David Goffin fought back from 1-5 down in the second set to beat Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 at Barcelona Open tennis tournament.

World No 10 David Goffin survived a scare against Spaniard Marcel Granollers after fighting back from 5-1 down in the second set to win his second round tie in the Barcelona Open on Tuesday 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2.

David Goffin plays a backhand return against Marcel Granollers in their Barcelona Open tennis tournament match on Tuesday.(Getty Images)
David Goffin plays a backhand return against Marcel Granollers in their Barcelona Open tennis tournament match on Tuesday.(Getty Images)

Granollers, ranked 129 in the world, made a flying start but he never recovered after spurning a match point and collapsed in the latter stages of the second set, losing the tiebreak before being wiped out in the third.

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“It’s really hard when you are so close and don’t kill off the game. It feels very tough to lose today, I’m not thinking positive things right now,” Granollers told reporters.

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Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who beat Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, who downed Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 6-3, will both join Goffin in the third round.

Spaniard Roberto Carbelles Baena earned the right to face world number one and 10-times tournament winner Rafael Nadal on Wednesday after comfortably beating Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2, 6-4 in a first-round match.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori also enters the second round on Wednesday after receiving a bye and will face Spaniard Guillermo Garcia Lopez for the right to play Nadal or Carbelles Baena in the last 16, potentially setting up a re-match of last Sunday’s Monte Carlo Masters final which Nadal won.

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Former world number one Novak Djokovic will face Slovak Martin Klizan in the second round on Tuesday after receiving a late wildcard entry as he continues his comeback from a long injury lay off after getting knocked out in Monte Carlo in the last 16.

“I hadn’t planned on coming here but last Thursday when I finished in Monte Carlo we decided we wanted an invite,” the Serbian told a news conference.

“I haven’t played much this year and I want to play without thinking about my shoulder. Monte Carlo was the first tournament I’ve played in over a year without any pain and I’m happy about that.”

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Djokovic could meet Nadal in the quarter-finals if they both win their next two matches.

Spaniard Jaume Munar will meet last year’s runner-up Dominic Thiem in the second round after seeing off Joao Sousa 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

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