BARCELONA, April 23, 2018

Main draw action of at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell kicked off on Monday with three Spanish wild card entries in action. Former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo lost to Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6, 6-7, 4-6.

The 39-year-old Zabreb native, who saved two match points in a second-set tie-break, fired 29 aces, didn’t face a break point and won 89 per cent of his first serves to win the battle of the veterans after two hours and 15 minutes. Karlovic will next take on the tournament’s No. 8 Roberto Bautista-Agut.

Barcelona native Marcel Granollers eased past Mikhail Kuskushkin 6-2, 6-2. The World No. 129 won 64 per cent of the total points played to advance in 66 minutes. Next up for Granollers at the ATP 500 clay-courte event will be No. 4 seed David Goffin of Belgium.

“It is always special to play home. I want to thank the RCTB to give me the opportunity to play here,” Granollers told. “This year I did not have a good ranking to get into the main draw. The club has helped me a lot. It is very important for me to play on that court with all my people and do it like I have done it today. It was a very important win, which will give me a lot of confidence.”

Pedro Martínez Portero lost to Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 4-6, 7-6, 3-6. The 27-year-old from Belgrade saved eight of the nine break points he faced, converting three of his own to meet No. 12 seed Feliciano López next.

Photo Gallery (by Brigitte Urban)