Nadal advances to third round of Barcelona Open; Ferrer crashes out

Johannesburg: World No.1 Rafael Nadal has successfully began his bid for a record ninth title at the Barcelona Open by moving ahead to the third round, while fellow Spaniard David Ferrer crashed out of the tournament on Wednesday.

The top-seeded Nadal put his loss last week in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals to Ferrer out of his mind by beating compatriot Albert Ramos 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in a match lasting just over two hours. According to Sport24, Nadal`s second-round win lifted his record at the event to 41-1 and he defeated the 103-ranked Ramos for the second time in the tournament after a 2013 quarter-final, adding that he will next meet Croatian Ivan Dodig, who hammered Spanish 13th seed Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4. Meanwhile, Ferrer, who was also defeated at the same stage last year by Dmitry Tursunov, lost 6-4, 6-2 to 55th-ranked Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili , who is playing in Barcelona for the eighth time and had never got further than the second round, the report added.