• Barcelona Open

Almagro powers into second round in Barcelona

Nicolas Almagro unleashed some ferocious forehands in Barcelona © Getty Images

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Nicolas Almagro used his powerful service game to overwhelm Santiago Ventura 6-1 6-2 in the first round of the Barcelona Open.

The victory was the latest in a series of comfortable early-round wins for Almagro, who has consistently reached the latter stages of tournaments in 2010 - only to struggle against more celebrated opponents.

True to form, he dominated world No. 129 Ventura - sending down ten aces and winning 32 of 39 points on his serve.

Almagro, seeded 15th at the tournament, claimed four breaks of serve during a 60-minute victory. He will next face Simon Greul, who posted a 6-4 6-4 win against Pere Riba.

No. 13 seed Thomaz Bellucci was pushed hard by Jarkko Nieminen before he eventually claimed a 6-4 6-4 victory. Nieminen won the only previous meeting between the two, and he was able to utilise the confidence generated by that triumph to put into place an aggressive gameplan.

World No. 64 Nieminen regularly capitalised upon Bellucci's timid second serve - winning 55% of the points on offer there - but he was unable to capitalise on the two breaks he picked up, as Bellucci got himself out of trouble with four breaks of his own. The Brazilian now takes on the winner of the tie between Andreas Beck and Victor Hanescu.

Richard Gasquet bounced back from his disappointing second-round exit at the Monte Carlo Masters by defeating Igor Andreev 7-6(5) 6-4. In a match of fine margins, Gasquet's two breaks in the second set were the crucial factors in his victory. His reward for victory is a match against Fernando Verdasco, runner-up at Monte Carlo.

After defeating Christophe Rochus 5-7 6-1 6-3, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez would have faced the unenviable second-round task of trying to end Rafael Nadal's winning run on clay - but the world No. 3 has now pulled out of the tournament. Robin Soderling, top seed after Nadal's withdrawal, definitely awaits for Juan Ignacio Chela, who defeated Filip Krajinovic 6-1 6-4.

Other first-round winners on Monday included Marcel Granollers, Oscar Hernandez, Eduardo Schwank, Jan Hajek and Thiemo De Bakker.

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