The second-seeded Nadal, who lost last week to Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semi-finals, rebounded with a solid performance to advance to the third round.
Almagro hit 19 unforced errors to nine for Nadal in a first set that he ceded on a costly double fault.
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Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports passThen, after a spectator proposed marriage to his girlfriend between sets, the former No 1 broke Almagro to go up 3-1 and rolled on.
Almagro upset Nadal on the same red clay court last year to end the eight-time champion's run of 41 consecutive wins at the tournament he has dominated for almost a decade.
"Nico is a danger because of the potential he has. At the start he served very well and won a lot of points on the second stroke," said Nadal, who was cheered on by Barcelona striker Neymar fresh after his two goals against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
"It was difficult, so I decided to step back a metre and put more balls in play and, bar the final game, I controlled the match.
"I committed very few errors and I hadn't forgotten that he beat me last year."
Nadal will face 17-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev or Fabio Fognini, who has already beaten Nadal on clay this year in Rio de Janeiro, in the last 16 on Thursday.
Eliminated
Meanwhile, Cilic was eliminated in the second round, losing to Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic 6-4 6-4.
Estrella broke Cilic four times on the outdoor red clay, stealing his serve to go ahead 5-4 in the second set, and finishing off the ninth-ranked Croat by holding serve to love.
Estrella, who had won only one match in his last five tournaments, celebrated after placing a long forehand out of Cilic's reach on match point.
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