Summary After Monte Carlo loss, Rafael Nadal is refocusing on winning an eighth title at Barcelona Open.
BARCELONA (AP) - After his eight-year winning run in Monte Carlo was ended by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal is quickly refocusing on winning an eighth title at the Barcelona Open.
Going into another clay-court tournament that Nadal has dominated, the Spaniard said he still needs to improve following a lengthy injury layoff before he s able to beat the likes of Djokovic in a final.
"When you make it to the final in Monte Carlo you cannot think that you had a bad week," Nadal said Monday. "Now I m in Barcelona and I want to enjoy it. I love playing here."
"Against the world No. 1 you can win or lose, and this time I lost."
Nadal has reached five consecutive finals since returning in February from a knee injury winning three, and losing two.
This time, he won t be the top-seeded player at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. That honor goes to compatriot David Ferrer.
"I think I m on the right track but missing things after all that happened," said Nadal, who opens against either Carlos Berlocq or Daniel Gimeno-Traver on Wednesday. "They are both good players on clay."
In first round play on Monday, Ivan Dodig saved five of seven breakpoints in beating Aljaz Bedene 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2. Andrey Kuznetsov took only 46 minutes to beat Igor Sijsling 6-1, 6-3, and Paolo Lorenzi defeated Guillaume Rufin 6-4, 6-2 after winning 80 percent of points on first serve. Ernests Gulbis topped Radek Stepanek 7-6 (4), 6-2.
