BARCELONA (AFP) - Rafael Nadal continued his storming spring on the clay, opening as holder at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-2 second-round defeat of Potito Starace.

The popular victory at the Real club over the Italian ranked 45th, left Nadal with an enviable 99 wins out of his last 100 clay matches since winning his first Monte Carlos title in 2005.

The treble Roland Garros winner is aiming to duplicate his performance last weekend in the principality, where he claimed his fourth straight at the venue, again thwarting Roger Federer.

Spain's Mallorcan tennis hero fought with the persistent Starace in the first set before breaking open the match at 3-1 on his way to victory in 78 minutes with four breaks of serve.

The world number two next faces 16th-seeded compatriot Feliciano Lopez, a winner of fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Nadal nudged ahead of Nikolay Davydenko with 28 match wins this season to 27 for the Russian.

Nadal lost his only Barcelona match in 2003 against Alex Corretja in the second round. He has beaten Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo and Guillermo Canas in the past three finals.

Starace has now dropped eight straight matches against Top-10 players, standing 2-9 against the elite.

In addition to Lopez, three more compatriots followed Nadal's winning example on a sunny day.

Number two David Ferrer crushed countryman Gabriel Trujillo-Soler 6-1, 6-1 while Nadal's Beijing Olympic doubles partner Tommy Robredo, the number six, put out Dutch promise Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4.

Albert Montanes reversed the fortunes of Ivo Karlovic, upsetting the Croatian eighth seed 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 7-5

American James Blake was making his European clay debut for the season later against Denis Gremelmayr of Germany, the number 85 who took a set off of Roger Federer in Estoril.