Nadal eases into Barcelona third round

BARCELONA, Spain -- Defending champion Rafael Nadal continued his storming spring with a win at the Barcelona Open -- but warned that he expects to eventually run out of steam due to a crowded clay season this Olympic year.

"It will be impossible for me to keep a top level over four straight weeks," said the three-time Roland Garros champion after producing a 6-4 6-2 second-round victory over Potito Starace.

While Nadal was reaching the third round, fourth seed James Blake was losing the first career match he has ever played on iconic Spanish clay.

The American slumped to a 6-1 6-4 defeat against Denis Gremelmayr less than a fortnight after the German world number 85 took a set off Roger Federer in Estoril.

"I don't want to think too much about this defeat," said Blake -- only the second American to appear on European clay three weeks into the pre-Paris season. "I was starting to get used to conditions in the second set, but I ran out of time. I wish we were playing in a third set right now."

Blake has had hard luck on the dirt this month, losing a third set lead in the Houston final as Spaniard Marcel Granollers-Pujol won a first career title at his expense.

Nadal said that the Catalan crowds will keep him excited this week as he continues the long-odds job of trying to defend his Barcelona and Rome titles before aiming to lift a fourth straight title at Roland Garros.

"I cannot expect to keep at top level through every week," said last weekend's winner of a fourth consecutive Monte Carlo crown. "It's more psychological than physical. You can't focus all the time, every week."

The victory over Italian Starace, world ranked 45th, leaves Nadal with an enviable 99 wins out of his last 100 clay matches since winning his first Monte Carlo title in 2005.

Spain's Mallorcan tennis hero fought with the persistent Starace in the first set before breaking open the match at 3-1 on his way to victory in 78 minutes with four breaks of serve.

The world number two next faces 16th-seeded compatriot Feliciano Lopez, a 3-6 6-2 6-4 winner over fellow-Spaniard Alberto Martin.

"It will not be easy, his serve is big and that can give me problems," said Nadal, whose 28 wins leads the ATP this season.

Nadal lost his only Barcelona match in 2003 against Alex Corretja in the second round. He has beaten Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo and Guillermo Canas in the past three finals.

In addition to Lopez, three more seeds followed Nadal's winning example on a sunny day. Number two David Ferrer crushed countryman Gabriel Trujillo-Soler 6-1 6-1 while Nadal's Beijing Olympic doubles partner Tommy Robredo, the number six seed, put out Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2 6-4.

Tenth seed Nicolas Almagro beat Italy's Filippo Volandri 6-4 7-6 while Albert Montanes reversed the fortunes of Ivo Karlovic, upsetting the Croatian eighth seed 6-7 6-3 7-5.

Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka set up a clash with third seed David Nalbandian by beating Kazakh lucky loser Yuri Schukin 6-3 6-4.

Meanwhile, top seed Paul-Henri Mathieu safely made it into the quarterfinals at the Munich ATP event on a day of few surprises -- as former world number one Marat Safin reached the second round.

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

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.

The only shock of the day saw Italian Simone Bolelli dump out compatriot and eighth seed Andreas Seppi 6-4 7-5 in their second round match. Bolelli will play South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee in the quarterfinals after he beat Brazil's Julio Silva 6-1 6-4. E-mail to a friend