体坛英语新闻：Nadal beats Berlocq in his debut in Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal this Wednesday beat Argentina's Carlos Berlocq 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the tennis tournament Conde de Godo, which is being held this week in Barcelona.

The 26-year-old Nadal had no trouble at the beginning of the last 16 match and quickly broke serve before racing into the 5-3 lead in the first set.

Berlocq, who is ranked 63rd in the world, showed spirit, breaking Nadal's serve and looking to attack the Spaniard at the net whenever he had the chance, but Nadal kept cool and took the next game to claim the opening set.

The wind whipping around the court complicated matters for both players, but Nadal made his class count, although it should be added he needed six match points to finally seal his win in a tense final game.

The pair had met earlier this season in Sao Paulo, where Berlocq had taken a set off Nadal, as Nadal made his way to a tournament victory on his way back to full fitness after being out action since last June with a knee injury.

This was Nadal's first match in what is a special tournament for him and the Conde de Godo comes on the back of his defeat to Novak Djokovic in Montecarlo last week.

Meanwhile, David Ferrer, who is currently world number four suffered the upset of the day when he was defeated by Russia's Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in one hour and 56 minutes.

Ferrer said afterwards that he had not been physically and mentally at his best, admitting the Russian had been more aggressive on court.

The defeat leaves Nadal as favorite for the tournament he has already won 7 times, with four of his final victories coming against Ferrer. Nadal's next rival will be the winner of the match between fellow Spaniard, Pablo Andujar or the French's Benoit Paire.