BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - King of the clay court artists Rafael Nadal will be feeling good about his game as he headlines the Barcelona Open following an historic fourth straight Monte Carlo title taken at the expense of Roger Federer.
"I lost easy in Australia (semi-finals), Indian Wells (semi-finals) and Miami (final against Nikolay Davydenko)," said Nadal, who has won 98 of his last 99 matches on clay.
"But when you are playing well, you feel you can win a tournament. Playing a bad match in the last round leaves you with a bad feeling going into the next event."
Nadal, who beat rival Roger Federer for the third consecutive year in the Monte Carlo title match - won't be having that problem as he awaits a second round opponent from Italian Potito Starace and Pete Luczak.
The Warsaw-born Luczak may be an Aussie, but that doesn't preclude him from having a handy game on the dirt, having won four of his last five this month on the surface.
Nadal will be in demand on and off the court this week in the Catalan capital, with a Monday sponsor appearance already ticked off the list of his mandatory sponsor activities.
As in Monaco, the world number two is aiming for more record-setting, hoping to lift his fourth straight at the Real club.
Number nine Guillermo Canas led three other seeds to success as the Argentine beat Spain's Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-4.
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded 14th, overcame a first-round exit last week in Monte Carlo, advancing over Spaniard Jose-Antonio Sanchez de Luna 6-3, 6-3.
Number 15 Russian Dmitry Tursunov became the first seed to advance, defeating South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-3 while Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti scored an upset as he beat Fernando Verdasco, 13th, with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
British wildcard Andy Murray's second-round opponent will be a rejuvenated Mario Ancic, who crushed Russian Mihail Zverev 6-1, 6-0.
Ancic leads Murray 2-1 in their meetings, taking the last victory in march in the Miami second round.
"We've had some tough matches," said the Croatian who recovered in 2007 from glandular fever which kept him out of action for six months.
Murray won in February when he faced Ancic in the Marseille final.
As usual, the Barcelona field is packed with locals, with ten Spaniards playing first-round matches.
Unknown number 237 Gabriel Trujillo-Soler booked the first Iberian victory, reaching the second round over hard-luck Austrian Werner Eschauer 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Eschauer has not won an ATP-level match since January 1, suffering eight losses at the senior level.
Qualifier Marc Lopez earned a Spanish win, advancing as Czech Ivo Minar retired trailing 3-1.
