Nishikori ousts Felix on clay in Barcelona

Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated on Thursday at the Barcelona Open.

The No. 16 seed from Montreal lost 6-1, 6-3 to No. 4 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan in the third round of the ATP Tour 500 clay-court event. Auger-Aliassime won just 54 per cent of his points on first serve, well below Nishikori’s 69 per cent success rate.

The 18-year-old Montreal native had chances, but failed to capitalize on five of six break point opportunities against the 2014 and 2015 Barcelona champion.

Since Auger-Aliassime and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the semifinals of the Miami Open ATP Tour Masters 1000 hard-court event last month, the young players haven’t enjoyed the same success. Shapovalov has lost his last two matches, while Auger-Aliassime is 1-2 in the European clay-court season.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal looked closer to his clay-court best again as he beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

The 11-time Barcelona champion saved four of five break points and broke four times in what could have been his last meeting with Ferrer, who is retiring after the Madrid Open next month. It was a sign of improvement for Nadal, who lost in the semifinals in Monte Carlo last week and then needed three sets to get past Leonard Mayer in his opening match in Barcelona.

“This match was important for me,” Nadal said. “Yesterday I had a tough match. I took a step forward and was able to play with more energy.”

The top-seeded Nadal will next face 51st-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, who upset fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Also on Thursday, third-seeded Dominic Thiem broke Jaume Munar five times to earn a 7-5, 6-1 victory.