Rafael Nadal made a smooth start to his bid for a fourth consecutive Barcelona Open title as he powered to a 6-4 6-2 win over Italy's Potito Starace in the second round.

The top seed and three-times French Open champion continued his winning run following his triumph in Monte Carlo last week and eased to victory in 78 minutes.

Nadal will now play Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez for a place in the quarter-finals.

"These courts are quite fast and he is a very dangerous player," Nadal said.

Having beaten world number one Roger Federer to win the title in Monte Carlo, Nadal faces a daunting task if he is to defend his Barcelona crown and then go on to win the back-to-back Masters events in Rome and Hamburg.

Changes to the calendar this year to accommodate the Olympic Games mean that Nadal will play four weeks in a row and then have just a week off before the French Open.

"It's more difficult psychologically than physically," Nadal said.

"Maybe if I wasn't treated like a rock star here (by the fans) I might not have played."

World number 45 Starace matched Nadal in the early stages and had a break point to lead 3-2 but the Spaniard held on and then broke in the 10th game to win the set.

The pair traded breaks early in the second set but Nadal broke again in the fourth game and then cruised to victory.

Second seed David Ferrer needed just 49 minutes to demolish fellow Spaniard Gabriel Trujillo-Soler, the world number 237.

His 6-1 6-1 win earned him a meeting with Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Fourth seed James Blake, number five Carlos Moya and number eight Ivo Karlovic were beaten, though.

Blake, who only flew in from the United States on Tuesday, looked ring-rusty as he lost 6-1 6-4 to German Denis Gremelmayr.

"That's a match I don't want to think about for too long," Blake said.

"Hopefully I will learn from it for the big tournaments ahead."

Former champion Moya lost 4-6 6-1 6-4 to Latvian Ernests Gulbis while Karlovic was ousted 6-7 6-3 7-5 by Spaniard Albert Montanes .

Sixth seed Tommy Robredo beat Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2 6-4 and Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka eased past Yuri Schukin , a lucky loser from Kazakhstan, 6-3 6-4 to set up a third-round clash with third seed David Nalbandian.

- Jamie Murray and doubles partner Max Mirnyi were beaten 6-4 6-2 by the Spanish pair of Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez in their second round match.

But Andy Murray and fellow Brit Ross Hutchins reached the last 16 by taking the match tie-break 10-3 against Thomas Johansson and Robert Lindstedt.

Eurosport