Defending champion and top seed David Ferrer is leading the Spanish charge at the Heineken Open, easily getting through his first match of the tournament with a victory over Czech Lukas Rosol.
Ferrer, ranked number five in the world, took just over an hour to beat Rosol 6-4 6-2. It was Ferrer's first match of the tournament after he had a bye in the first round and he will face Alejandro Falla of Colombia in the quarter-finals.
While Ferrer is the top gun, his two countrymen Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco also possess plenty of firepower and they also progressed with two-set victories following first-round byes.
Second seed Almagro looked especially sharp in disposing of Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-4 6-2, with third seed Verdasco, a former world number seven who is playing in Auckland for the first time, beating Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 7-5 7-6 (3).
Left-hander Verdasco looked brilliant at times - his backhand in particular is a weapon - but he struggled with his serve. He battled for 61 minutes to put Berlocq away in the first set and, while he forced the Argentine all around the court in the second, Berlocq refused to give up and took it to a tiebreak.
Verdasco eventually took out the match, one of the best in the tournament, in two hours 13 minutes.
"He's a great fighter,'' Verdasco said of Berlocq. "He fought for every ball no matter how tired. It was so difficult today.''
Almagro will face eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the quarter-finals, with Verdasco facing another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a man who happens to be his doubles partner.
It is Ferrer, 29, who remains favourite. His fighting qualities came to the fore against the lanky Rosol but it was his extremely accurate first serve which put him in the box seat.
Ferrer was successful with about 80 per cent of his first serves in the first set, but Rosol was left kicking himself when he was in a position to apply pressure. With the score at 5-4, Rosol had an easy chance to go to 15-40 but dinked an easy shot into the net. Ferrer quickly wrapped up the game and took out the first set. The second set was more straightforward, Ferrer twice breaking Rosol's serve.
"It was difficult because he's very powerful,'' said Ferrer. "It's important for me to win the first match in two sets. I didn't run a lot and use up much energy so I'm happy.
"I played consistently all the match.''
Ferrer brings plenty of form to Auckland, having beaten world number one Novak Djokovic in London at the end of the year before helping his country win the Davis Cup against Argentina.
Sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci, of Brazil, lost an epic battle against Olivier Rochus. Belgian Rochus won the second-round match, which lasted three hours 12 minutes and included two tie-breakers, 6-7 (6) 7-5 6-7 (5).
Bellucci, ranked 30 places higher than Rochus at 37th, was a quarter-finalist in Auckland last year.
