BARCELONA, April 28: Defending champion and number two seed Carlos Moya sailed through to the last 16 of the Barcelona Open with a 6-4 6-2 win over German qualifier Daniel Elsner on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old former world number one next meets 13th-seeded Argentine Gaston Gaudio, who beat Germany's Alexander Popp 6-0 7-6, for a place in the quarterfinals. Chilean fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez, given a bye in the opening round, made a shaky start in his first match but recovered to demolish Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 6-0 in little over an hour.

However his compatriot, fourth-seeded Nicolas Massu was less fortunate. Despite winning the second set, he was unable to find his stride in an exhausting 2-1/2 hour marathon against Spain's Alberto Martin and went out 6-3 5-7 6-2.

In-form French qualifier Olivier Patience knocked out Argentine ninth seed Juan Ignacio Chela, warming up after a slow start to claim a 1-6 6-4 6-4 victory over the Estoril Open champion.

Argentine number three seed David Nalbandian, who also had a first-round bye, cruised through to the last 16 with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of experienced American Todd Martin.

Fellow Argentine and 16th seed Mariano Zabaleta faced even less opposition for a third-round slot in the 990,000 euro ($1.17 million) claycourt tournament, claiming a 6-0 6-3 win over Spain's Fernando Vicente. Number 15 seed Felix Mantilla lost 6-4 7-6 to Spanish wild card Marc Lopez and 17th-seeded Brazilian Flavio Saretta fell to Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-2 1-6 6-3.

Second round results