April 23rd, 2009 by Peter Bevan

Rafael Nadal is on course to winning his fifth consecutive Barcelona Open title after clinching a 6-2 6-2 victory in his first match over Portuguese star Frederico Gil.

Rafael Nadal will now face unseeded Belgian Christophe Rochus in the last 16 of the Barcelona Open.

It was a successful round for the top seeded Spaniard players in front of their home crowd.

Barcelona Open second seed Fernando Verdasco beat Nicolas Lapentti 7-5 6-3 and will now face the Czech number 15th seed Tomas Berdych in the next round.

Spaniard number four seed David Ferrer meets unseeded Italian Potito Starace in the last 16 after Potito Starace’s surprising win over 14th seed Robin Soderling.

Sixth seed Tommy Robredo, winner of the Barcelona Open title in 2004, is up against Russian 12th seed Igor Andreev next after beating Argentine Gaston Gaudio 7-6 (8-6) 6-1.

Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Nicolas Almagro face tough opponents in the next round of the Barcelona Open.

Number 16 seed Feliciano Lopez will face the Russian number three seed Nikolay Davydenko whilst tenth seed Nicolas Almagro takes on Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian.

Elsewhere, recent Monte Carlo Masters semi-finalist Stanislas Wawrinka meets number nine seed Radek Stepanek in the third round of the Barcelona Open.

Rafael Nadal will be hoping to continue his top form and defend his crown at the Wimbledon 2009 tennis tournament in June. Wimbledon tickets are currently available with prices from £225.

British Tennis fans will also get the chance to see the world’s top seeded players in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November, being held in the London O2 Arena.

Tickets for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are available from £45.