Bellucci, Almagro among Barcelona winners

BARCELONA, Spain, April 19 (UPI) -- Seeded players Thomaz Bellucci and Nicolas Almagro were among first-round winners Monday at the $2.1 million Barcelona Open in Spain.

Bellucci, seeded 13th, posted a 6-4, 6-4 over Jarkko Nieminen, taking just four more points -- 63-57 -- over the course of the clay-court match but getting two service breaks in each set to advance.

Almagro, the No. 15 seed, had little trouble taking out Santiago Ventura 6-1, 6-2 in 60 minutes. Almagro won 65 percent of the points in the match and didn't face a break point.

The only more lop-sided outcome was Thiemo De Bakker's 6-1, 6-0 rout of Alejandro Falla in a match that took just 44 minutes. De Bakker lost just 22 of the 75 points in the match. But he also knows how Falla feels. Last week Rafael Nadal beat De Bakker by a like 6-1, 6-0 score.

Two matches Monday went the full three sets. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez rallied for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win over Christophe Rochus and Oscar Hernandez also came from behind in his 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Illya Marchenko.

Other winners Monday were Marcel Granollers, Richard Gasquet, Simon Greul, Jan Hajek, Pablo Cuevas, Eduardo Schwank and Juan Ignacio Chela.