Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Nadal and Djokovic post easy wins

Rafael Nadal
Nadal is looking for his fourth clay-court title of the season

World number one Rafael Nadal swept aside Jurgen Melzer in brutal style at the Madrid Open on Wednesday, joining Novak Djokovic in the third round.

Home favourite Nadal was in stunning form as he took his unbeaten record on clay to 31 matches with a 6-3 6-1 win.

Djokovic, the third seed, eased past Spain's Oscar Hernandez 6-3 6-3.

There was a brief scare for the Serb as he fell awkwardly on his right knee early in the second set but he recovered to cruise through.

Before the tournament began, Nadal expressed his fears that conditions at the high-altitude venue would make the ball bounce higher and partly negate his advantage on clay.

But the 22-year-old did not appear to encounter any problems against Melzer and remains on course to pick up his 16th Masters 1000 (the new name for Masters Series) crown.

Juan Martin Del Potro advanced after Tomas Berdych retired at 6-2 4-1 down.

The Czech player had looked unlikely to repeat his victory in the Munich Open last week before a leg injury forced him out.

Argentina's Del Potro will take on Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, while Djokovic will face Andreas Seppi of Italy in the next round.

606: DEBATE
Have your say on the day's play in Madrid

Djokovic, who won the inaugural Serbia Open on Sunday, is playing his first tournament since losing his world number three spot to Andy Murray.

Murray survived a tough challenge against Simone Bolelli on Tuesday and could be further tested by Spain's Tommy Robredo on Thursday.

Robredo is the world number 17 and has already won two titles on clay this year.

"He is one of the top 10 clay-court players for sure," said Murray.

"He won a couple of tournaments on clay in South America and he is playing at home, so he's going to have good support.

"It'll be a very good test for me but hopefully I can play like I did (against Bolelli) and give myself a good chance."

ะพ 6:31 AM

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