Almagro Pounds El Mago at ATP Barcelona

Nicolas Almagro's train kept-a-rollin' Thursday at the ATP claycourt stop in Barcelona, where the homecountry 19-year-old walloped No. 3 seed Guillermo "El Mago" Coria 6-2, 6-0 to move into the quarterfinals.

"It wasn't a good match and my service let me down again," Coria, whose magic act fell flat against the fearless teen, told reporters after throwing in 14 double faults. "I'm still struggling with confidence as everything is working well in practice. It's going to take time to find my form again and I have to be patient."

Spanish No. 5 seed David Ferrer was another casualty Thursday, outlasted 6-1 in the third by Swiss Stan Wawrinka.

Seeded winners on the day were (1) Rafael Nadal (d. (Q) Navarro Pastor), (4) Radek Stepanek (d. Mathieu from a set down), (7) Jarkko Nieminen (d. Portas), and (10) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. A.Costa in three).

Costa received a standing ovation after his last professional match. Nadal's win was marked by some excitement in the second set when a female fan ran onto the court and handcuffed herself to the net post, eventually cut loose by security guards.

"The incident was bad for me. I was 4-0, 0-30 when it happened and then I lost the game," Nadal told reporters. "I didn't like it at all. It's not good for the show on court."

Another unlikely un-seed into the quarters was Croatian serving giant "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, who out-dueled Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev in three tiebreaks.

No. 6 seed Tommy Robredo led Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 2-6, 2-1 when rain halted play for the remainder of the day.

Lining up for the Friday quarterfinals are (6) Robredo vs. (12) Verdasco (to finish), Wawrinka vs. Karlovic, (6) Robredo or (12) Verdasco vs. (4) Stepanek, (1) Nadal vs. (7) Nieminen, and a new-vs.-old Spanish match-up in Almagro vs. (10) Ferrero.