British number one Andy Murray has played down his chances of staging an upset against another of the total 21 Spaniards in the field on Tuesday in a second-round test at the Barcelona Open.
After barely squeezing past the number 291 from Barcelona in the first round Monday, the Scot feels his clay-court form is so lacking that he will have no chance against fifth seed David Ferrer.
"It will be tough, I'm not expecting to win," the downcast teenager confessed after a sloppy and lucky escape against Marcel Granollers-Pujol 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
"But as long as I perform as I did today, keep fighting, then the result of the match is not such a big deal. I just want to keep improving with each match."
The 43rd-ranked Murray, beaten in the first round of his last two events in Miami and at his 2006 clay debut last week in Monte Carlo, was far from pleased after his win.
The outsider was playing a main draw at the ATP level for the first time in his career after spending most of the month on the dirt. Murray trailed a set and 4-2 before his shots finally began to make a winning impression.
After levelling at a set each, he began to impose his game, with the inexperienced Pujol cramping in both legs by the end, a condition which left him unable to do more than slap at the ball with his racket on the way to defeat.
The Spaniard's misfortune benefited Murray, who added: "I didn't do anything that well. "I didn't have any big first serves and didn't do much with my forehand or my backhand. "I didn't play well, it was good just to come through."
The British hope said that while he is still in the search for a coach to replace Mark Petchey, "it's not my top priority right now." Spain's former Roland Garros champion Albert Costa extended his goodbye to tennis for at least another round with a win over America's Vince Spadea 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
The popular 30-year-old Costa announced last week he will end his career after this tournament, one of his favourites at the home of the clay game in Spain. Costa had pride on the line as he beat the man who put him out in the Roland Garros first round a year ago.
"I was very nervous, more so than usual, I knew that this one could be my last match," said Costa, who thus earned a second-round shot at eighth seed Domink Hrbaty. "But I didn't want to end it all against Spadea. I want to go out against a Nadal, a Moya or a Ferrero."
Tenth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2001 champion, continued to improve as he moved past Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-1, 6-2. Russian newcomer Teimuraz Gabashvili scored the first upset of the week as he put out 11th-seeded compatriot Igor Andreev 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4). France's Gael Monfils, the number 13, advanced over Italian Stefano Galvani 6-2, 7-5.
But Spain's outsider Carlos Cuadrado, a 22-year-old wildcard ranked 225, beat Russian 14th seed Dmitry Tursunov 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 to leave the Russian 0-2 on clay so far this spring.