Raonic among early winners in Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain, April 23 (UPI) -- Milos Raonic claimed a tight straight-set win Monday in the first day of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell tennis tournament in Spain.

Raonic, seeded 11th, won 70 percent of the points on serve in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Alejandro Falla. He lost eight points in five first-set games serving and 13 in the second, when he sustained his lone break of the day.

There were 13 matches on Monday's schedule but the only other seeded player on the court was No. 18 Denis Istomin, who was a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 upset victim at the hands of Santiago Giraldo.

Steve Darcis outlasted Andrey Golubev for a 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5) win in a match that took more than 2 1/2 hours. Darcis only had one break in the match. Eduardo Schwank claimed a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 decision over Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the only other match Monday that went three sets.

Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-3 and advanced to a second-round match against second-seeded Andy Murray. A 6-2, 6-4 victory by Filip Krajinovic over Inigo Cervantes was worth a second-round slot against David Ferrer, the No. 3 seed.

Other winners Monday were: Joao Sousa, Federico Delbonis, Benoit Paire, Jarkko Nieminen, Albert Montanes, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Robin Haase.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal is the top seed for the event. He's won it six of the last seven years.