Intro:

There were victories for Kei Nishikori, Tommy Robredo and Dominic Thiem at the Barcelona Open in Spain on Tuesday.

Script:

Japan's Kei Nishikori returned to action on Tuesday, winning his first match since March to advance to the third round of the Barcelona Open.

Nishikori, who is ranked 17th in the world and is the fourth seed here, defeated Spain's Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Nishikori, who has been sidelined with a groin injury since beating Roger Federer to reach the Miami semi-finals, won in just under two hours, breaking serve seven times from 15 opportunities.

Nishikori goes on to face Andrey Golubev, who was leading 6-4, 5-1 when French 16th seed Benoit Paire was forced to retire.

Fifth seed Tommy Robredo cruised past Marinko Matosevic 6-3, 6-4 in 82 minutes to open his campaign.

The Spaniard is looking to lift the trophy in Barcelona for the second time, having first succeeded in 2004.

He also finished runner-up in 2006 when he lost to Rafael Nadal.

Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem, who only turned professional in 2012, came from a set down to beat 14th-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 15 minutes.

20-year-old Thiem, who knocked out former world number eight Radek Stepanek in the first round, claimed his sixth win of the season and is currently ranked 80th in the world having started the year at number 139.