BARCELONA OPEN BANCSABADELL

Barcelona Wednesday Preview

Barcelona, Spain

There are 13 spots up for grabs in the third round on Wednesday at the Barcelona Open BancSabadell as former two-time World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt kicks off the Pista Central schedule against Argentine Eduardo Schwank. The Aussie, who is playing here for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2002, is seeded No. 12. He defeated qualifier Marsel Ilhan in the first round Tuesday.

World No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the highest seed in action at No. 3, is next on Pista Central. The Frenchman has a first-time meeting against Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic.

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In the last three matches, a trio of red-hot Spaniards, David Ferrer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fernando Verdasco are all on the schedule. The No. 8 seeded Ferrer, who was a runner-up here the past two years to Rafael Nadal, has a 15-2 clay court record this season. He meets countryman and wild card Marcel Granollers for the first time.

Ferrero, the 2001 champion here and a two-time runner-up, has a 17-2 clay court mark this year. The No. 7 seed also has a first-time meeting against Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.

In the final match, Verdasco, who is coming off his first runner-up in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, is the No. 5 seed and he faces Frenchman Richard Gasquet for the ninth time (tied 4-4). The No. 2 Spaniard has won the past four meetings.

Also in action on Pista 1 is No. 4 seed Fernando Gonzalez, who lost in the semi-finals last year to Ferrer in a third set tie-break. The World No. 12 faces qualifier Spanish Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the first time.