Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov stunned David Ferrer 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 on Wednesday to knock the top seed out in the second round of the ATP Barcelona Open.
World No. 4 Ferrer, losing finalist last month in Miami to Andy Murray, was seeded ahead of Rafael Nadal for the first time and had been dreaming of making amends after losing three finals in Barcelona to his career rival.
But the 66th-ranked qualifier Tursunov had his own agenda, which he executed in style in just under two hours to spoil the pre-French Open clay debut of Ferrer.
Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic made an easy start over Eduardo Roger-Vasselin of French 6-4, 6-2, as the north American made up for a disappointing loss last week in the Monte Carlo second round.
Slovak 11th seed Martin Klizan beat Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-4 and veteran Spanish clay campaigner Tommy Robredo defeated Bulgarian 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-1.
German eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber also had a tough battle to reach the third round eventually prevailing in three sets over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(2).
The results:Second round: Rafael Nadal bt Carlos Berlocq 6-4, 6-2; Dmitry Tursunov bt David Ferrer 7-5, 3-6, 6-1; Martin Klizan bt Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-4; Juan Monaco bt Bernard Tomic 6-0, 6-2; Milos Raonic bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-2; Tommy Robredo bt Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-1; Jeremy Chardy bt Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-4; Tomas Berdych bt Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; Ernests Gulbis bt Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(2); Kei Nishikori bt Guillermo Olaso 6-1, 6-3; Thomaz Bellucci bt Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5.
First round: Blaz Kavcic bt Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-0; Bernard Tomic bt Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; Eduardo Roger-Vasselin bt Jan Hajek 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-2; Carlos Berlocq bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-4; Blaz Kavcic bt Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-0; Tommy Robredo bt Marc Lopez 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; Albert Ramos bt Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6(2). — AFP
