Ferrero, who'd made opening-round exits at Auckland and the Australian Open, had to break Schwank four times just to win the second set. The Argentine reached the quarterfinals last week at Santiago.
Ferrero, the 2007 runner-up, moved onto a second-round clash with another veteran, Chile's Nicolas Massu, the 2006 champion who took nearly three hours to beat Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Da Silva 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereThomaz Bellucci, fresh from his second career title on Sunday in Santiago, hit 10 aces in beating Brazilian countryman Thiago Alves 6-2, 7-5. Bellucci reached the Brazil Open final last year, and only tiredness may prevent a repeat.
Fourth-seeded Igor Andreev also posted his first win of 2010 after two defeats when he beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 6-2. Andreev also finally won at his third attempt in the Brazil Open.
Fifth-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania defeated Brazil's Joao Souza 7-6 (5), 6-4, while No. 6 Pablo Cuevas won 6-4, 6-3 against Filippo Volandri of Italy, and Juan Ignacio Chela, who has reached at least the quarterfinals three times, was pushed all the way by Peter Luczak of Australia to win 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.
Seventh-seeded Horacio Zeballos retired with a hip injury while trailing Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-5, 3-0.
Other winners included qualifiers Rui Machado of Portugal and Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, as well as Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Italian Fabio Fognini.
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Federer wins 1st match in a struggleEdmilson arrives at Zaragoza
