Rafael Nadal continued his storming spring on the clay, opening as holder at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-2 second-round defeat of Potito Starace. The popular victory at the Real club over the Italian ranked 45th, left Nadal with an enviable 99 wins out of his last 100 clay matches since winning his first Monte Carlos title in 2005. 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. 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. The world No.2 Nadal next faces 16th-seeded compatriot Feliciano Lopez, a winner of fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. In addition to Lopez, three more compatriots 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, put out Dutch promise Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4. Albert Montanes reversed the fortunes of Ivo Karlovic, upsetting the Croatian eighth seed 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 7-5. Other results: Mikhail Kukushkin of Russia) bt Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay) 6-0, 6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina) bt Marc Lopez of Spain) 5-1 (Lopez retired); Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland) bt Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan) 6-3, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Marcos Daniel of Brazil) 6-4, 6-3. Safin, Lee advance Two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin beat Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the second round of the BMW Open in Munich. Safin, whose ATP ranking has dropped to 84th, got a wild card for the clay-court tournament. His match was delayed from Tuesday because of rain. Eight-seeded Marin Cilic and Lee Hyung-taik reached the third round. Cilic beat Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 7-6 (7) and Lee downed qualifier Julio Silva 6-1, 6-4. After Tuesday's withdrawal of Philipp Kohlschreiber, the tournament lost another local attraction when Tommy Haas pulled out. Haas, who was seeded fifth, said his right shoulder was still painful, despite three operations. Haas said he would also skip the upcoming tournaments in Hamburg and Rome. In first-round matches, seventh-seeded Steve Darcis beat Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4, Michael Berrer ousted Ivo Klec - who replaced Haas in the main draw - 6-1, 7-6 (6) and Younes El Aynaoui defeated Alexandre Sidorenko 6-4, 7-6 (6). In another match, Paul-Henri Matthieu of France downed Gianluca Naso of Italy 6-3, 6-4. Pliskova, Vinci move up Czech wild card Karolina Pliskova rallied to beat eighth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals of the Prague Open. The 16-year-old Pliskova, who beat Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday for her first victory on the WTA tour, will now play third-seeded Victoria Azarenka or Tatiana Poutchek, both of Belarus. Azarenka beat Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match suspended from Tuesday due to rain. Also in the second round, Roberta Vinci of Italy defeated Jill Craybas of the United States 6-4, 6-4. In the first round, second-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel edged Anna Lapushchenkova of Russia 7-5, 7-5 and will next meet Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria. Vera Dushevina of Russia knocked out Martina Muller of Germany, 6-0, 6-2, and Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-3, 5-7, 6
