Rafael Nadal beats Nicolas Almagro; Marin Cilic loses at Barcelona Open

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Rafael Nadal avenged last year's loss to Nicolas Almagro by beating his fellow Spaniard 6-3, 6-1 at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday, while U.S. Open champion Marin Cilicslumped to a second-round exit.

The second-seeded Nadal, who lost last week to Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semifinals, rebounded with a solid performance to advance to the third round.

Almagro hit 19 unforced errors to nine for Nadal in a first set that he ceded on a costly double fault.

Then, after a spectator proposed marriage to his girlfriend between sets, the former No. 1 broke Almagro to go up 3-1 and rolled on.

Almagro upset Nadal on the same red clay court last year to end the eight-time champion's run of 41 consecutive wins at the tournament he has dominated for almost a decade.

U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic was eliminated, losing to Victor Estrella of the Dominican Republic 6-4, 6-4.

Also, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to reach a third-round meeting against top-seeded Kei Nishikori, setting up a rematch of last year's final won by the Japanese.

Third-seeded David Ferrer brushed aside Spanish countryman Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-3, while Pablo Andujar of Spain also roared back to oust 11th-seeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Estrella will next play Martin Klizan after the Slovak rallied past Juan Monaco 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.

Estrella broke Cilic four times on the outdoor red clay, stealing his serve to go ahead 5-4 in the second set, and finishing off the ninth-ranked Croat by holding serve to love.

Estrella, who had won only one match in his last five tournaments, celebrated after placing a long forehand out of Cilic's reach on match point.

It was only Cilic's third tournament of the season after he rested to recover from a shoulder injury. As the fourth seed, he had a bye in the first round.

"I was not too happy with the way I played," Cilic said. "I made a lot of unforced errors. I feel I still need several matches to get my form to a good stage."

Estrella, ranked 53rd, last year became the first Dominican to finish a season in the top 100.