Hewiit challenged on Day 1, goes through in Barcelona

Former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt made a successful return to the Barcelona Open BancSabadell Tuesday, recovering from the loss of the second set to Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan to prevail 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 and reach the second round of the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament.

The 29-year-old Hewitt is playing in Barcelona for the first time since 2002, when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Gaudio), as he continues his comeback from right hip surgery, which he underwent on 29 January. Two weeks ago the Australian posted a quarter-final effort (l. to Chela) at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.

The No. 12 seed fired 10 aces and converted six of nine break point opportunities as he sealed his first-round victory at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 in just under two hours. He next will face Argentine Eduardo Schwank.

Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver surprised 10th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to secure his place in the second round. The No. 92-ranked Gimeno-Traver has reached this stage three times previously in Barcelona, helped in 2006 by victory over Novak Djokovic.

Another seed to topple in the first round was No. 14 and last week’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarter-finalist Albert Montanes, who was ousted by Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 7-6(1) in 82 minutes.

Lucky loser Ivan Navarro made the most of his opportunity by reaching the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas. The Spaniard replaced No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych in the main draw when the Czech withdrew due to a right ankle injury.


Monday, April 19, 2010

Singles - First Round
[13] T Bellucci (BRA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 64 64
[15] N Almagro (ESP) d S Ventura (ESP) 61 62
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d [Q] C Rochus (BEL) 57 61 63
[WC] M Granollers (ESP) d L Kubot (POL) 64 63
O Hernandez (ESP) d I Marchenko (UKR) 67(2) 62 64
R Gasquet (FRA) d I Andreev (RUS) 76(5) 64
T de Bakker (NED) d A Falla (COL) 61 60
S Greul (GER) d [Q] P Riba (ESP) 64 64
J Hajek (CZE) d P Starace (ITA) 61 64
[Q] P Cuevas (URU) d H Zeballos (ARG) 76(2) 62
E Schwank (ARG) d F Fognini (ITA) 61 63
J Chela (ARG) d [WC] F Krajinovic (SRB) 61 64