News | My Sports

The Barcelona Open saw a veterans battle of Fernando Verdasco vs Feliciano Lopez as Jaume Munar struck a blow for Spain's next generation.

Verdasco edges ahead of old rival Lopez in Barcelona, Mayer books Nadal date

Fernando Verdasco prevailed in the all-Spanish clash on the opening day of the Barcelona Open as he saw off compatriot Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-3.

Lopez, playing in the round of 64 after being granted a wildcard, came off second best throughout the battle between two powerful left-handers, with his serve failing to fire.

The 37-year-old won only 59 per cent of points on his first serve and Verdasco, 35, was able to close out a straight sets triumph, as he did when they met at last year's US Open.

Verdasco edges ahead 6-5 in their career head-to-head and takes on Grigor Dimitrov in the next round.

@FerVerdasco making happy some of his youngest fans got us like pic.twitter.com/FV58qq1dda
— Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (@bcnopenbs) April 22, 2019

Arguably the most pleasing performance for the home crowd came earlier in the day as the 21-year-old world number 57 Jaume Munar came from a set down to defeat Portuguese qualifier Pedro Sousa 2-6 6-4 6-0.

Argentina's Leonardo Mayer dropped a second-set tiebreak against Romania's Marius Copil but prevailed 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 to book a round-two meeting with Rafael Nadal.

Benoit Paire advanced at the expense of Juan Ignacio Londero, while Nicolas Jarry sent Marcel Granollers packing.

At the Hungarian Open, Mikhail Kukushkin and Bernard Tomic suffered straight-set defeats to Matteo Berrettini and Aljaz Bedene respectively.

Radu Albot and Filip Krajinovic made it through to round two in Budapest.

Top Headlines