Nadal gains revenge over Almagro

Rafael Nadal avenged his shock defeat to Nicolas Almagro at last year’s Barcelona Open to move into the third round in the Catalan capital with a 6-3, 6-1 win on Wednesday. Almagro’s sole victory in 13 meetings with the 14-time Grand Slam champion in last year’s quarter-final ended Nadal’s incredible 41-match winning streak in Barcelona.  However, the out of form Almagro, who has slipped to 123 in the world, was swept aside as Nadal won 10 of the last 11 games to comfortably book his place in the next round. Nadal will face Russian Andrey Rublev or Fabio Fognini, who has already beaten Nadal on clay this year in Rio de Janeiro in the last 16 on Thursday. David Ferrer remained on course for a semifinal meeting with Nadal after heat beat Alberto Montanes 6-2, 6-3.