Brandon Nakashima fought off two set points in a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win against Spanish qualifier Nicolas Alvarez Varona on Monday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Spain.
Nakashima, playing on clay for the first time this season, took advantage of 12 double faults by his opponent and advanced to face No. 2 seed Casper Ruud of Norway in the second round.
Mackenzie McDonald rallied to defeat France’s Hugo Grenier 6-7 (2), 6-1, 7-6 (2), while fellow American Marcos Giron lost to Argentina’s Federico Coria in three sets. Also advancing were Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles and Jaume Munar, Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, Sweden’s Elias Ymer, South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon and Egor Gerasimov of Belarus.
Serbia Open
Denmark’s Holger Rune cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 upset of No. 5 seed Cristian Garin of Chile in the first round in Belgrade.
No. 6 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 win against countryman Marco Cecchinato and No. 7 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia dispatched France’s Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-3 in 73 minutes.
Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene outlasted Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 in the day’s only other match.
–Field Level Media
