BARCELONA, Spain : Top-ranked Rafael Nadal will look to get his clay court season back on track against Albert Ramos at the Barcelona Open after his fellow Spaniard won on Tuesday in the first round.
Ramos beat Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-4, 6-4 to set up Wednesday's second-round match against the defending champion and eight-time winner. Nadal was knocked out of the quarterfinals of the preceding Monte Carlo Masters -- his earliest exit from the clay court tournament since 2003.
In second-round play on Tuesday, fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan was a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 winner over Spain's Roberto Bautista.
No. 16 Benoit Paire of France was the only seeded player to exit, retiring at 6-4, 5-1 down to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan.
