Rafael Nadal overcame a sore knee to open his bid for a seventh Barcelona Open title with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the second round Wednesday. Nadal had a bye in the first round after defeating Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo Masters final Sunday and improved to 31-1 on the clay in Barcelona after breaking his fellow Spaniard six times. “My knee bothered me a little, but that's normal. In 15 days, the discomfort isn't going to go away, but it doesn't keep you from playing so it's not a problem,” said Nadal, who had to withdraw before the semifinals of last month's Sony Ericsson Open because of a left knee problem. Fellow Spaniard David Ferrer needed less than an hour to advance to the third round by beating Serbian wild card Filip Krajinovic 6-0, 6-3. The sixth-ranked Ferrer is bidding for his first Godo trophy after finishing as the runner up three times. Ferrer plays Albert Montanes in the next round after the Spaniard saved four match points to oust 15th-seeded Bernard Tomic 6-0, 5-7, 7-5. Canada's Milos Raonic beat Russia's Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-1, while Japan's Kei Nishikori overcame Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Seventh-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain also reached the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Italy's Flavio Cipolla and will face Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who won 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 over Eduardo Schwank of Argentina. Kevin Anderson of South Africa, Albert Ramos of Spain and Santiago Giraldo of Colombia also advanced. Sharapova, Wozniacki thru In Germany, second-ranked Maria Sharapova began her clay court season Wednesday by reaching the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix when her opponent Alize Cornet of France retired with a shoulder injury. The Russian was leading 6-3, 1-0 when qualifier Cornet quit in pain, her right shoulder giving her too much trouble to continue. Sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark advanced to the second round when Jelena Jankovic of Serbia also retired, with the score also 6-3, 1-0 in Wozniacki's favor. Mona Barthel of Germany saved three set points and rallied to upset Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-5, 7-6 (4) in another first-round match. Ivanovic led 5-3 in the first set and held three set points on Barthel's serve. But the German wild card saved two and then fired an ace to turn the match around. Agkul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan replaced the injured Daniela Hantuchova in the main draw and went on to upset another Slovak, Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised past qualifier Greta Arn of Hungary 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. Kuznetsova out In Morocco, second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova is out of the WTA Tour's Grand Prix SAR after retiring in the third set of her second-round match against Irina-Camelia Begu Wednesday. Former French and US Open champion Kuznetsova breezed through the first set 6-1, lost the second in a tiebreaker and was down 3-2 in the decider when she pulled out with an apparent leg injury. Sixth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa was also eliminated in the second round, losing in three sets to Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens. Third-seeded Petra Cetkovska and fifth-seeded Simona Halep progressed to the third round with straight-set wins, while qualifier Garbine Muguruza Blanco of Spain beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, who also retired after losing the first set 6-4. Another Spaniard, Laura Pous-Tio, beat Arantxa Rus 6-3, 7-5.
