Rafael Nadal through to second round of Rio Open
Wednesday 17 February 2016 09:44, UK
Rafael Nadal overcame some tricky conditions to beat Pablo Carreno Busta in his first round match at the Rio Open.
Top seed Nadal's opening game of the tournament was interrupted by rain and, with strong winds continuing once it cleared, his 6-1 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Carreno was met with a sense of relief.
Carreno's service game proved to be his downfall and he was broken to love to fall into a 2-0 hole in what turned out to be a one-sided opening set.
He improved a little in the second, after an hour off court for rain, with neither player looking fully at ease.
Nadal broke to lead 2-1, but that would be the first of five successive service breaks before the former world No 1 held his serve to end the match after 80 minutes on court and secure a second round date with another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro.
"Almagro is a tough player and clay is his favourite surface," said Nadal. "It's going to be a difficult match. I'll have to play my best."
Second seed David Ferrer eased into the second round with a 6-3 7-6 win over Chile's Nicolas Jarry, while there was a 6-3 6-4 win for fifth seed and last week's winner in Argentina, Dominic Thiem against clay-court specialist Pablo Andujar.
But there were two seeds knocked out on Tuesday as sixth seeded Jack Sock was beaten 7-5 6-1 by Argentina's Federico Delbonis and Alexandr Dolgopolov knocked out eighth seed Thomaz Bellucci 6-7 7-5 6-2.
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