• Barcelona Open

Nadal bounces back from Monte Carlo shock

ESPN staff
April 23, 2014
Rafael Nadal will face Ivan Dodig in the third round © Getty Images
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Rafael Nadal bounced back from his early Monte Carlo Masters exit by battling through to the third round of the Barcelona Open with a straight sets win over Albert Ramos.

Following last week's quarter-final defeat to David Ferrer in Monaco, his earliest exit at the tournament since 2003, Nadal saw off Ramos 7-6(2) 6-4 to set up a meeting with Ivan Dodig.

However there were shock defeats on Wednesday for Ferrer and Fabio Fognini.

Ferrer, second seed at the tournament behind Nadal, crashed out in straight sets to Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili, going down 6-4 6-2 against the world No.55.

"This was one of my best victories, no in fact it is my best ever, beating David Ferrer," Gabashvili said afterwards.

"I went into the game knowing that I had to be steady and controlled which is what I managed to do."

Third seed Fognini of Italy was another of the morning's casualties, struggling with injury against Santiago Giraldo before retiring when he was 6-0 4-0 down.

Dodig overcome 13th seed Feliciano Lopez 6-1 6-4 with Nicolas Almagro edging past Martin Klizan 7-5 7-6(4). Marin Cilic, the 12th seed, is through after a 6-1 7-6(2) victory against qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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