Thomaz Bellucci beats Kei Nishikori at Rio Open
Wednesday 22 February 2017 17:41, UK
Top seed and world No 5 Kei Nishikori crashed out in the first round of the Rio Open after a straight sets defeat to Thomaz Bellucci.
Having suffered defeat to Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final in Buenos Aires on Sunday, Nishikori headed across South America to continue his bid for a first title of the season.
A tricky draw against home favourite and Brazilian No 1 Bellucci ensured Nishikori had to take on the crowd as well as the player and the 27-year-old suffered a surprise defeat at the Jockey Club Brasileiro.
Bellucci broke the Nishikori serve four times on route to a surprisingly comfortable 6-4 6-3 victory that sets up an all-Brazilian second round clash with Thiago Monteiro.
There were no such problems for second seed Dominic Thiem, the only other member of the world top 10 playing in Brazil.
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Having made the trip from Rotterdam to Rio de Janeiro, Thiem eased through a tricky looking opener against Janko Tipsarevic.
The world No 8 suffered a surprise quarter-final defeat to doubles specialist Pierre Hugues Herbert in the Netherlands but a routine 6-4 7-5 victory booked the Austrian's place in the second round.
There were victories for Fabio Fognini, Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Federico Delbonis also progressed on day two but there was room for another surprise.
David Ferrer, the 2015 champion, is out after he lost to Dolgopolov in straight sets - last week's winner proving too strong for the Spaniard to advance.
World No 4 Milos Raonic enjoyed safe passage to the second round of the Delray Beach Open.
The Canadian, seeded first, breezed past American Tim Smyczek 6-1 6-4 to set up a second-round clash with Borna Coric.
Jack Sock, Juan Martin del Potro, Steve Johnson, Steve Darcis, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Nikoloz Basilashvilli were also first-round winners.
Coverage of the Rio Open continues on Sky Sports on Wednesday with the live action underway on Sky Sports Mix from 7.30pm and Sky Sports 1 from 8pm. Grab a NOW TV Sky Sports Day Pass and stay glued in to all the latest tennis action from the Rio Open on Sky Sports all for just £6.99. No contract.
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