Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece led the charge of the seeded players at the Barcelona Open in Spain. Tsitsipas joined Jannik Sinner and Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16, after defeating Argentina’s Pedro Cachin in straight sets.
Tsitsipas lost out in Monaco last week, after being denied at the quarter-final stage but he looked in clinical form against the Argentine in Barcelona.
Cachin, the world number 69, playing against his first top 10 opponent, tried to keep pace with the Greek but Tsitsipas got the better of Cachin’s serve in game five of the opening set.
Using his big first serve and looking to attack the net, he dictated play after that, going on to secure the opening set after 46 minutes on court.
Playing with the momentum, Tsitsipas didn’t take his foot off the gas in the second set, racing to a four love lead before Cachin even opened his account. He cruised into the round of 16, confidently, sealing a 6-4 and 6-2 victory.
Italy’s Sinner also booked his place in the last 16 with a comfortable straight sets victory over Cachin’s compatriot Diego Schwartzman.
The fourth seeded Sinner who made it to the semi-finals in Monte Carlo last week, broke the Schwartzman serve in the fifth game and then went on a three game run, to breeze through the opening set.
Sinner was again quick out of the blocks early in the second set. He raced to a 3-1 lead but the Argentine put up more resistance this time. Schwartzman battled back to level the set at four games apiece, but sadly again conceded a break in the penultimate game. And Sinner, a finalist in Miami early this month made no mistake, serving out the match with ease for his 25th win this season so far. The final score was 6-2 and 6-4.
Earlier, in the first match of day, 11th seed Dimitrov of Bulgaria was too good for Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez. Using his big power game to full effect, the Bulgarian fired 16 winners compared to his opponent’s two. He sealed a 6-3, 6-1 victory also advancing to the Round of 16.
