Nicolas Almagro maintains clay streak with straight-sets win over Marcel Granollers at Monte Carlo
Clay-court expert Nicolas Almagro lived up to expectations at the first clay ATP World Tour Masters 1000 at Monte Carlo, cruising past compatriot Marcel Granollers in straight sets to make it to the second round of the prestigious
event. The Spaniard took just over one hour and twenty-six minutes to defeat Granollers 6-3, 6-3 for a comfortable win in the opening round.
Nicolas Almagro comes to the Monte Carlo Masters after lighting up the Golden Swing in Latin America, producing great results at almost every clay tournament so far. He is currently ranked just outside the ATP Top 10 at World Number
12, and has been part of the tour since 2003. The player has already won two titles so far this year, making for a grand total of nine ATP trophies. He has only lost five matches out of twenty-five played so far in 2011. The 25-year-old is expected to perform
well at this tournament.
Granollers, on the other hand, joins the Association of Tennis Professionals at World Number 50. He is the same age as Almagro, and turned pro the same year as his opponent. However, apart from nationality, the two players have
little else in common: Granollers has only take one career title so far, and lost seven of twelve matches he has played so far this year. The player seems to be undergoing a severe slope as far as his career is concerned.
The match was a swift one for Almagro, who scored three aces and committed five double faults on his way to the victory. He also broke Granollers four times out of five, and defending himself successfully against one of three break
points. The match consisted of a total of nine service and return games apiece. Almagro concluded the victory with one of his signature forehands, taking 56 per cent of a total of 117 points to set up a 6-3, 6-3 score-line to win the match.
Nicolas Almagro and Marcel Granollers have competed against each other four times prior to this. Almagro has defeated him in every meeting, setting up a head to head record of 5-0 with his most recent victory yesterday. The two
players last met in 2010, at the Gstaad event in Switzerland. This tournament is also held on clay. Almagro managed to defeat Granollers in three sets 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 to win the match and proceed to the round of the last 16.
Nicolas Almagro is seeded ninth at this year’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo, and will compete in the second round of the tournament against Romanian pro Victor Hanescu or Argentine qualifier Maximo Gonzalez.
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