Almagro, rain come out ahead at Barcelona Open

BARCELONA, Spain, April 25 (UPI) -- Fourth-seeded Nicolas Almagro picked up a win Thursday but most of the third-round schedule was rained out at the Barcelona Open.

Eight third-round matches were scheduled for Thursday but only three were completed before rain led to a suspension of play. Organizers planned to finish the third round and complete the quarterfinals Friday.

Among those who had their matches delayed Thursday was second-seeded Rafael Nadal, who will now need to win twice Friday to have a chance at a third consecutive Barcelona Open title.

Almagro advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 15th-seeded Marcel Granollers. Almagro fought off six of the seven breakpoints he saw while getting three breaks against Granollers.

He'll play seventh-seeded Juan Monaco in the quarterfinals after Monaco beat 10th-seeded Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 7-6 (13-11). Monaco won nearly three-quarters of the points in the first set but needed to win a lengthy tiebreaker to get out of the third round.

No. 16-seeded Thomaz Bellucci stopped Dmitry Tursunov 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the only other match to finish. He faced just one break point after the first set.