By Chris Oddo | Tuesday February 16, 2016

 

Rafael Nadal braved rainy conditions and eased past Pablo Carreno Busta to set up a second-round clash with Nicolas Almagro in Rio.

Photo Source: Buda Mendes

Rafael Nadal endured rain-soaked clay and a prolonged delay to advance to the second-round of the Claro Rio Open, 6-1, 6-4 over Pablo Carreno Busta on Tuesday.

Nadal hit 14 winners and 13 unforced errors and broke serve five times on seven opportunities to set up a second-round clash with Nicolas Almagro. It was Nadal's third win in three meetings with Carreno Busta and it improves the Spaniard's record on clay to 347-31 lifetime.

Carreno Busta drops to 0-7 lifetime vs. the top-10 with the loss.

Nadal closed the first set with little resistance from Carreno Busta, but as soon as the set ended the rain picked up and forced the players to the locker room for a lengthy delay. When they returned several hours later Carreno Busta was in much better form, despite the wet conditions and steady drizzle.

Mixing up his shots and throwing in some devilish droppers, the world No. 66 twice rallied from a break down to level but wasn’t able to push ahead. Nadal engineered his third break of the set to take a 4-3 lead then survived a competitive deuce game to consolidate for 5-3.

Carreno Busta held to place the pressure back on Nadal’s serve, but the top seed held to 15, closing the match at the 1:57 mark when Carreno Busta netted a backhand off a second-serve return.

Second-seeded David Ferrer, fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem and seventh-seeded Fabio Fognini were also winners on a rainy Tuesday in Rio.

Sixth-seeded Jack Sock and eighth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci were upset, by Federico Delbonis and Alexandr Dolgopolov, respectively.

Nadal owns a 13-1 lifetime record vs. Almagro, and he has won three straight since falling to his compatriot in Barcelona in 2014.

Almagro ended a 15-match losing streak to Ferrer last week in Buenos Aires before falling to Dominic Thiem in the final.