Andy Murray gets ready to play the Barcelona Open but has another tricky opponent today when he faces Columbian Santiago Giraldo in the third round.

Murray, fresh from a quarter-final loss to Tomas Berdych at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, would be looking to get himself settled here fast to go deep into the tournament. With a 19-5 win-loss record in 2012, the World No.4 is seeded second here and would be aiming to do justice to his seeding. He is also gunning to win his second title of the season as he looks to overtake Roger Federer for the No.3 spot. His thumping victory in the previous round must have sent a message to all the players that he is not a pushover on clay.

His opponent, Giraldo is ranked 50 ranks below him at 54 and has had a satisfactory year so far with a win-loss of 13-9. His only good result came at the Mexican Open, where he lost to David Ferrer in the semi-finals. He has also scored a couple of impressive wins in the previous two rounds before coming into this match and would be aiming to cause an upset here.

This is the first meeting between the two and Murray is a heavy favorite in this match.