Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (SportsNetwork.com) – No. 2 seed David Ferrer moved on,
but former top-10 star Tommy Robredo was upset Wednesday in the second round
of the $1.55 million Rio Open.
Ferrer won a hard-fought first set in a 10-8 tiebreaker and was up 2-0 in the
second when Thiemo de Bakker retired.
Earlier, the third-seeded Robredo was ousted by Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3,
6-2 on the red clay at Jockey Club Brasileiro.
“It was a great win for me, for sure,” said Haider-Maurer. “I played well
against Tommy Robredo, and I’m very happy. … Every round here is very
important. Every round is a big step. I made for the first time the
quarterfinals at an ATP 500.”
The world No. 18 Robredo is the No. 3 active clay-court wins leader behind
only defending Rio champion Rafael Nadal and Ferrer.
Also Wednesday, Juan Monaco got past 33-year-old veteran Jarkko Nieminen 6-1,
7-6 (7-4) and Joao Souza rallied in the third set to beat Blaz Rola 6-4, 6-7
(9-11), 6-4.
Nadal, seeded No. 1, will take on fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta on
Thursday. Nadal beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in last year’s inaugural Rio final.
This year’s champion will pocket $343,000.
