Almagro seeks second straight title

• Tweet

BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro breezed into the quarterfinals of the Copa Claro Thursday, keeping him in the running for a second consecutive championship.

Almagro won last week in Sao Paulo after capturing both his matches in Spain's first-round Davis Cup triumph over Kazakhstan.

He overwhelmed Federico Delbonis in Thursday's second round 6-3, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal meeting with qualifier Igor Andreev, who won over seventh-seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

In Thursday's other second-round matches, Carlos Berlocq blasted third-seeded Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-1 and David Nalbandian was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Juan Monaco. Berlocq and Nalbandian will meet in Friday's quarterfinals.

The other quarterfinal matches were established Wednesday. No. 1 seed David Ferrer will play Fernando Gonzalez and Stanislas Wawrinka will take on Kei Nishikori.