Barcelona, Spain (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Rafael Nadal and
2011 runner-up David Ferrer were among Wednesday's second-round winners
at the $2.135 million Barcelona Open.
The top-seeded former world No. 1 Nadal blew past fellow Spaniard Guillermo
Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-2 in 81 minutes, while a third-seeded world No. 6 Ferrer
drilled Serbian wild card Filip Krajinovic 6-0, 6-3 in a mere 58 minutes
on the red clay at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.
Nadal, who upset current No. 1 Novak Djokovic in last week's final at the
Monte Carlo Masters to capture a record 20th Masters championship, has won
six of the last seven Barcelona titles and topped the three-time runner-up
Ferrer in last year's all-Spanish finale here. Ferrer has been the Barcelona
runner-up three of the last four years.
Meanwhile, eighth-seeded rising Japanese Kei Nishikori defeated Kazakhstan's
Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 and 11th-seeded Canadian mover Milos Raonic
dismissed Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-1.
In other action involving seeds, No. 13 South African Kevin Anderson got past
Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), Spanish crowd
favorite Albert Montanes upended No. 15 Aussie Bernard Tomic 6-0, 5-7, 7-5,
and No. 17 Spaniard Albert Ramos doused France's Benoit Paire 6-3, 7-5. Ramos
was a clay-court runner-up in Casablanca two weeks ago. Montanes will tangle
with his compatriot Ferrer in the round of 16.
Additional second-round wins came for Finn Jarkko Nieminen and Colombian
Santiago Giraldo, who will meet second-seeded Andy Murray on Thursday.
This week's big winner will collect $398,000.
The Sports Network