BARCELONA, May 1: Rafael Nadal made a smooth start to his bid for a fourth consecutive Barcelona Open title as he powered to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Italy’s Potito Starace in the second round on Wednesday.

The top seed and three times French Open champion continued his winning run following his triumph in Monte Carlo last week and eased to victory in 78 minutes.

Nadal next plays Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez, one of his closest friends on tour, for a place in the quarter-finals.

“These courts are quite fast and he is a very dangerous player,” the world No 2 told reporters.

Having beaten Roger Federer to win in Monte Carlo, Nadal faces a daunting task to retain his crown here and then win the back-to-back Masters events in Rome and Hamburg.

Changes to the calendar this year to accommodate the Olympic Games mean Nadal will play four weeks in a row and then have just a week off before the French Open.

“It’s more difficult psychologically than physically,” he said. “Maybe if I wasn’t treated like a rock star here (by the fans) I might not have played.”

World No 45 Starace matched Nadal in the early stages and had a break point to lead 3-2 but the Spaniard held on and then broke in the 10th game to win the set.

After the pair traded breaks early in the second set, Nadal broke again in the fourth game and then cruised to victory.

Second seed David Ferrer needed just 49 minutes to demolish fellow Spaniard Gabriel Trujillo-Soler, the world No 237.

His 6-1, 6-1 win set up a match with Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Fourth seed James Blake, number five Carlos Moya and eighth seed Ivo Karlovic were all beaten, though.

Blake, who only flew in from the United States on Tuesday, looked rusty as he lost 6-1, 6-4 to German Denis Gremelmayr.

“That’s a match I don’t want to think about for too long,” Blake said. “Hopefully, I will learn from it for the big tournaments ahead.”

Former champion Moya lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Latvian Ernests Gulbis, while Karlovic was ousted 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 by Spaniard Albert Montanes.

Sixth seed Tommy Robredo beat Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4 and ninth seed Guillermo Canas, runner-up last year, cruised past Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 6-2.

Swiss 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka beat Yuri Schukin, a lucky loser from Kazakhstan, 6-3 6-4 to set up a third-round clash with third seed David Nalbandian.

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round: Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt 5-Carlos Moya (Spain) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; 9-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili

(Russia) 6-1, 6-2; Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) bt 4-James Blake (US) 6-1, 6-4; 10-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 6-4, 6-2; Albert Montanes (Spain) bt 8-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 7-5; 6-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Robin Haase (Netherlands) 6-2, 6-4; 2-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Gabriel Trujillo (Spain) 6-1, 6-1; Mikhail Kukushkin (Russia) bt Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) 6-0, 6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) bt Marc Lopez (Spain) 5-1 – Lopez retired; 14-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt Yuri Schukin (Kazakhstan) 6-3, 6-4; 16-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Alberto Martin (Spain) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; 15-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Marcos Daniel (Brazil) 6-4, 6-3.

TOP SEED IN LAST EIGHT

MUNICH (Germany): Top seed Paul-Henri Mathieu safely made it into the quarter-finals at the Munich Open on a day of few surprises as former world No 1 Marat Safin made the second round.

With a host of top names pulling out of the event, including local heros Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber, the clay-court event has been shorn of big names.

Mathieu, ranked 19th in the world, had a comfortable straight sets win over Italian qualifier Gianluca Naso 6-3, 6-4 in the second round and will face eighth seed Marin Cilic in the last eight.

The Croat beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) earlier in the day in their second round tussle.

Having slipped down the ATP rankings to 84th after a long injury break, Safin was given a wildcard entry by the Munich organisers and dropped a set as he beat Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq, ranked 91st, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round.

It is a far cry from November 2000 when the 28-year-old was world number one, but he is on course to meet second seed Fernando Gonzalez from Chile in the quarter-finals, if he beats Germany’s Michael Berrer in the second round.

At the start of the day, seventh-seed Steve Darcis from Belgium had few problems in despatching Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets in the first round.

The only shock of the day was when Italian Simone Bolelli dumped out compatriot and eighth seed Andreas Seppi in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 in the final singles match of the day in the second round.

Bolelli will play South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee in the quarter-finals after he beat Brazil’s Julio Silva 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.

Results:

Second round: Simone Bolelli (Italy) bt 6-Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-4, 7-5; 1-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) bt Gianluca Naso (Italy) 6-3, 6-4; 8-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Philipp Petzschner (Germany) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7); Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) bt Julio Silva (Brazil) 6-1, 6-4.

First round: Marat Safin (Russia) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Michael Berrer (Germany) bt Ivo Klec (Slovakia) 6-1, 7-6 (8-6); 7-Steve Darcis (Belgium) bt Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-3, 6-4; Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) bt Alexandre Sidorenko (France) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).—Agencies