Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sports Network) - Top seed Rafael Nadal and two-time
defending champion Nicolas Almagro were among the second-round winners
Thursday at the clay-court Brasil Open.
Nadal, the 2005 champion, made quick work of Joao Souza, posting a 6-3, 6-4
victory over the Brazilian qualifier. The Spaniard was a shocking loser at
the hands of Argentine Horacio Zeballos in last week's final in Vina Del
Mar, Chile. It marked his first action in seven months after being sidelined
with a knee injury.
The second-seeded world No. 11 Almagro fired 18 aces in holding off Chilean
qualifier Paul Capdeville 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 on Day 4 in Sao Paulo.
The three-time Brasil Open champ Almagro beat Italian Filippo Volandri
in last year's finale here and also captured this event in Costa do
Sauipe in 2008 and 2011.
Almagro's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be oft-injured former top-five
star and former Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian, who cruised past fellow
Argentine Guido Pella, 6-4, 6-2.
A series of upsets came when Italian Simone Bolelli took out third-seeded
Argentine Juan Monaco 7-5, 6-2; Volandri upended fifth-seeded Brazilian
Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-2; Albert Montanes erased seventh-seeded fellow
Spaniard Pablo Andujar 7-5, 6-2; and Argentine Carlos Berlocq doused eighth-
seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. Bellucci was a Brasil Open
runner-up in 2009.
Montanes will meet Bolelli in the round of eight.
The 2013 Brasil Open titlist will earn $82,300.
The Sports Network