In order to reach his sixth quarterfinal appearance in eight tournaments at the tour level this year, Sinner will take on Yoshihito Nishioka in the third round.
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At the Barcelona Open on Wednesday, Jannik Sinner maintained composure to defeat Diego Schwartzman and earn his 25th tour-level victory of 2023. On Pista Rafa Nadal, the fourth-seeded Italian prevailed over a typically tenacious Schwartzman, who dug especially deep in the tumultuous second set. After dominating the first set, Sinner won four of the seven serve breaks in the second to complete a one-hour, forty-minute victory in the ATP 500 match.
In order to reach his sixth quarterfinal appearance in eight tournaments at the tour level this year, Sinner will take on Yoshihito Nishioka in the third round. At the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, the Japanese 16th seed Nishioka earlier defeated David Goffin 6-1, 7-5.
Diego Schwartzman, who has been struggling in recent weeks, got off to a good start in Barcelona with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over Wu Yibing in the round of 63. The Argentine was playing at his best, converting five out of 11 break points and recording win percentages of 61% and 86% on the first and second serves respectively.
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Third seed Casper Ruud got off on a winning note as well despite a late scare against Ben Shelton in the round of 32. The Norwegian won 6-2, 7-6 (1) as he returned three out of eight break points and recorded win percentages of 76% and 50% on the first and second serves respectively. Ruud will be looking for a good performance in Barcelona after his disappointing exit in Monte Carlo in the round of 16.
“He was playing great, and I think I was playing great,” said Ruud. “I played a perfect first set and he was making maybe a few too many mistakes… But I think all throughout the second set was tough games, tough rallies. It can be difficult. In the first set you feel like you get a lot of free points, and so on, but then suddenly he starts playing almost like a wall and playing really good from on defence. It’s tough when someone changes in the middle of the match, but I’m very happy that I was able to stay calm and play a very good tie-break.”
The biggest shock of the second day was the loss of fifth seed Frances Tiafoe to and unseeded Emil Ruusuvuori. Tiafoe started on the back foot as the Finn eased to a first set victory but fought back in the second, winning after a tie-break. Things did not go to plan in the third set for the American as he could not find a way past Ruusuvuori and the match finished 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
