Lapentti, Gaudio & Youzhny Battle Through

Juan Monaco has no trouble with Marat Safin, who is playing in his last Barcelona Open tournament. Monaco dismissed the Russian 6-4 6-1 after 65 minutes of play. The Argentine will play the Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the next round. The two players have never met in ATP action.

Nicolas Lapentti had a more difficult time overcoming from fellow-veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu. The Ecuadorian qualifier persevered and bested the Frenchman 6-3 2-6 6-2. Lapentti had a good week in Monaco but will play Fernando Verdasco play in the next round. The Spaniard leads Lapentti 4-2 though Lapentti won their last meeting in Cincinnati in 2008.

On the other hand, Fabio Fognini did not survive after having a good week in Monte-Carlo last week. Fellow-qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver beat the Italian pretty handily 6-1 6-3. The Spaniard plays Juan Monaco in the second round.

Gaston Gaudio beat fellow Argentine Diego Junquiera 6-4 3-6 6-4. The 2004 Roland Garros champion will meet sixth-seed Tommy Robredo in the next round. The Argentine leads their match-up 4-3 with Gaudio winning their last meeting in Monte-Carlo in 2006.

The match of the day was Mikhail Youzhny versus Viktor Troicki. It looked like the Serb would take the match, but the Russian rallied from behind to send the Serb home 6-7(5) 7-6(6) 6-3 after 163 minutes of play. Youzhny will now play Stanislas Wawrinka, who made it to the semifinals in Monte-Carlo last week. The Russian is 1-0 over Wawrinka.

In doubles, all three Spanish teams lost today, plus Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez lost yesterday. Doubles team, Travis Parrot and Filip Polasek rallied to beat Frantisek Cermak and Mertinak Mertinak 6-7(4) 6-2 10-7. They will play top-seeds Bryan brothers in the next round. The Bryan brothers and Travis Parrott are the only American players currently playing on the European clay circuit.

(Image: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)