World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz opened his title defense with a brisk 6-3, 6-1 win over Nuno Borges of Portugal on Tuesday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Barcelona, Spain.
Alcaraz converted 5 of 7 break points to advance in just 63 minutes. The top-seeded Spaniard is trying to successfully defend an ATP tour event for the first time in his career.
Fifth-seeded Frances Tiafoe was upended by Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
All of the other seeded players advanced in straight sets at the ATP 500 event, including No. 3 Casper Ruud of Norway and two Spaniards — No. 10 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and 13th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.
Srpska Open
Seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet of France defeated Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic 6-3, 6-1 in the Round of 32 in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Serbians Laslo Djere and Dusan Lajovic were both winners on the clay. Qualifier Radu Albot of Moldova defeated Argentine Federico Coria, who retired after dropping the first set 6-4. Qualifer Abdullah Shelbayh of Jordan also beat Sweden’s Elias Ymer in straight sets.
Two matches were suspended by rain in progress with another two shelved before they started.
BMW Open
German Oscar Otte scored a 6-3, 7-5 upset victory over No. 5 seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina on the clay in Munich, Germany.
Sixth-seeded Lorenzo Sonego needed 2 1/2 hours to defeat Quentin Halys in three sets and No. 8 Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland also needed three sets to dispatch Kyle Edmund of Great Britain.
Other winners included Chile’s Cristian Garin, Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics and Alexander Ritschard, Aussie Christopher O’Connell and Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
–Field Level Media