© 2012 Daily Tennis News Wire -
Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
Barcelona
Monday Summary


Singles - First Round: (11) M Raonic def. A Falla 6-4 7-6(7-3)
This isn't enough points to count for Milos Raonic, but he is defending semifinalist points this week, and needs to defend them to stay Top 25, so this is a fairly important win for him.

Singles - First Round: S Giraldo def. (18) D Istomin 7-6(7-3) 6-4
Denis Istomin has been having a good year -- but not on clay! The surface is probably the story here. It's a bit ironic that Istomin, who was seeded only after a couple of others withdrew, ended up being the first seed to lose. He loses his Top Forty chance with it.

Singles - First Round: (Q) J Sousa def. I Kunitsyn 7-6(7-5) 6-3
If we have our Sousas right (there are two of them, Joao and Pedro), this is Joao Sousa's first win since exactly a year ago, at Estoril 2011.

Singles - First Round: S Darcis def. (Q) A Golubev 4-6 7-6(7-2) 7-6(7-5)
After a truly miserable streak last year, Andrei Golubev had managed to win his opener at all three of his ATP events this year. There goes that record....

Singles - First Round: (Q) F Delbonis def. (Q) A Bedene 6-3 7-5
We noticed, as we were filling in the qualifiers here, that there were several whom we were surprised to see in qualifying and several more we were surprised to see at all because they had such poor or non-existent records. This is a case of a guy in the first class beating a guy in the second.

Singles - First Round: B Paire def. L Rosol 6-3 7-5
Benoit Paire has now won his opener at his last four straight clay events, but lost his opener at his last two non-clay events. Not much of a sample, but indicative....

Singles - First Round: J Nieminen def. (WC) J Marti 6-4 6-1
Not enough points yet to matter for Jarkko Nieminen, but any additional wins count, and he needs fewer than a hundred points to reach the Top Forty.

Singles - First Round: (LL) E Schwank def. (WC) R Ramirez Hidalgo 2-6 6-4 6-0
An interesting result, this -- Eduardo Schwank has managed to survive by playing doubles, but his singles career seemed to be ending almost before it got started.
Schwank replaced Radek Stepanek, who became the third seed to withdraw here; there is a slight chance that will cost Stepanek his TOp 25 spot.

Singles - First Round: A Montanes def. (WC) G Granollers-Pujol 7-5 6-2
So far, there is very little evidence that Gerard Granollers-Pujol will be able to follow in his brother's footsteps. He has been around for several year but done almost nothing.

Singles - First Round: (WC) F Krajinovic def. (WC) I Cervantes 6-2 6-4
We knew Inigo Cervantes was tilting at windmills here....

Singles - First Round: E Roger-Vasselin def. (LL) S Robert 6-2 6-3
Stephane Robert is still looking for his first ATP win since Roland Garros 2011.

Singles - First Round: R Haase def. S Bubka 6-1 3-2, retired (ankle)
Robin Haase has enough slots open that even this relatively minor result counts; he may well gain a couple of ranking spots.

Singles - First Round: S Stakhovsky def. (LL) E Donskoy 6-2 6-3
A nice draw for Sergei Stakhovsky, for whom all clay points seem to be a bonus.

Doubles - First Round: Marrero/Verdasco def. Andujar/Garcia-Lopez 7-6(7-1) 6-1

Doubles - First Round: Almagro/Ramos def. Cabal/Faran 2-6 6-4 10-6 (Match TB)