The king of clay, Rafael Nadal will look to extend his dominance on clay in the third round of Barcelona Open where he'll face Croatian Ivan Dodig.
In his first match, after the shocking defeat in Monte Carlo less than a week ago, Nadal faced fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos and was struggling at 1-3 in the first set. He fought his way back with 18 winners to 27 unforced errors as he beat the 103rd ranked 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Where to Watch Live
Third round matches start at 12.30 pm local time (3.30 pm IST) with Rafael Nadal vs Ivan Dodig scheduled to start at 7.30 pm local time (10.30 pm IST).
Global viewers can stream the live action HERE and HERE. In India, the live coverage will be on Ten Sports, whereas in the US and Australia, ESPN will broadcast it. To watch the action live online, click HERE.
Nadal, who has a 41-1 record in Barcelona, having won eight titles in the last nine years, will look to overcome the Monte Carlo disappointment in Barcelona.
"After losing in the Monte Carlo I wanted to raise my game here," the world no. 1 said. "It just took a while.
"I had to accept that I was going to be made to work today (Wednesday), that I was not playing at my best level," the Mallorcan said after the second round match. "But I got through it.
"I need to improve everything. I'm working every day to play more aggressively. I need to find the feeling of being dominant in the points. I feel that sometimes I'm hitting balls from good positions and I'm not able to create the right spaces, to find winners. I need to try and find that for the next match."
The eight-time champ will next face Dodig, who dismissed Spain's local favourite Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4.
Nadal and Dodig have faced each other three times and the 27-year-old leads 2-1 in the career head to head matches, having played only once on clay before - in the same tournament in 2011 when the Spaniard won.
In an all-Spanish match of the third round, last year's losing finalist Nicolas Almagro will face 2010 champ Fernando Verdasco.
Almargo, seeded sixth, prevailed 7-5, 7-6 (4) over Martin Klizan on Wednesday while eleventh seeded Verdasco walked through Frenchman Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 6-3.
In other third round matches, fifth seed Tomas Robredo will face Marin Cilic after the 12th seed Croatian defeated qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 7-6 (2).
