By Alberto Amalfi | Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Dominic Thiem defeated Kyle Edmund in Barcelona and will face another Brit, Dan Evans, next.
Photo credit: Barcelona Open BancSabadell
Comebacks were both realized and thwarted in a busy day in Barcelona.
A Japanese man continued his inspired run on the red clay. And it’s not 2016 runner-up Kei Nishikori, who withdrew from the tournament.
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Instead, Japanese lucky loser Yuichi Sugita has emerged as a surprise story.
Sugita battled past Richard Gasquet, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), backing up his opening-round upset of Spanish wild card Tommy Robredo.
The ninth-seeded Gasquet underwent appendicitis surgery in early March, which prompted him to pull out of Masters events in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo. It was Gasquet’s first match since falling to Lucas Pouille in the Marseille semifinals on February 25th.
The 91st-ranked Japanese will face Barcelona resident Pablo Carreno Busta for a quarterfinal spot.
Fresh off pushing world No. 2 Novak Djokovic to three sets in Monte Carlo last week, Carreno Busta was nearly flawless on serve today.
The seventh-seeded Spaniard served 71 percent and permitted just seven points on serve in a 6-4, 6-2 dismissal of Andreas Seppi that spanned 63 minutes.
No. 4-seeded Dominic Thiem denied six break points sweeping Kyle Edmund, 6-1, 6-4. It was the first meeting between the pair and came a week after Edmund was the only man to take a set from Rafael Nadal en route to his record-setting 10th Monte Carlo Masters championship.
Thiem will play another Briton, Dan Evans, for a place in the quarterfinals. The 43rd-ranked Evans served 80 percent dissecting 14th-seeded Mischa Zverev, 6-4, 6-4.
Alexander Zverev fought off 2013 Barcelona finalist Nicolas Almagro, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4, in a physical two hour, 25-minute match.
The eighth-seeded Zverev, who was blown out by Nadal in Monte Carlo last week, moves on to a round of 16 match against either 12th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber or 94th-ranked qualifier Hyeon Chung.
In a match of veterans returning from injury, South African Kevin Anderson won 29 of 32 first-serve points powering past four-time finalist David Ferrer, 6-3, 6-4, in 66 minutes.
It was Ferrer's first match since March 25th when he bowed to Diego Schwartzman in his Miami opener.
The 30-year-old Anderson will face Nadal next if the nine-time champion wins his opener on Wednesday.
The good news for Bernard Tomic, he defeated Dustin Brown, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, snapping a five-match losing streak in earning his first win since the Australian Open second round in January. The bad news for Tomic is the win vaults him into a second-round clash with world No. 1 Andy Murray, who has won all 12 sets they’ve played.