Spaniards out in force in Vina del Mar

Nicolas Almagro marks his return from injury at the Royal Guard Open starting Monday as Horacio Zeballos looks to defend his title. Spanish world number 17 Almagro missed the Australian Open due to a shoulder injury and will be looking for his first ATP World Tour title since May 2012. He will have plenty of competition with countrymen Tommy Robredo, Marcel Granollers, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Pablo Carreno Busta all in the field. Zeballos shapes as being the main threat after his surprise victory in the final in Vina del Mar last year. The 2013 tournament marked the return of 13-time grand slam winner Rafael Nadal from a seven-month injury lay-off. Unsurprisingly the favourite to claim the title, Nadal reached the final before being upstaged by the Argentine 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4. Zeballos was in decent form heading into last year's tournament, but his efforts coming into this one have been far less impressive. He was knocked out in the first round of the Sao Paulo Challenger he won in 2013, reached the second round in Auckland before a first-up Australian Open defeat. Robredo will be aiming to improve on his second-round exit in Chile last year and the 31-year-old has made a good start to 2014. He reached the fourth round at the year's first grand slam before being knocked out by eventual champion Stanislas Wawrinka. Italian Fabio Fognini and Colombian Santiago Giraldo are expected to be among the challengers, while Frenchman Jeremy Chardy also makes the trip. Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and Chilean 17-year-old Christian Garin are also in the draw. But expect at least one of the Spaniards to enjoy a strong run at the year's first clay-court tournament at ATP level.