• Madrid Masters

Nadal battles through in Madrid

Rafael Nadal is chasing his third title © Getty Images

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Rafael Nadal suppressed a spirited display by Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr to book his place in the third round of the Madrid Masters.

Nadal extended his unbeaten run to 11 matches on clay this season with a 6-4 6-3 victory, but it was a far from a dominant performance from who has been in rampant form in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian, ranked No. 62 in the world, has won just one match on the ATP Tour this season, but he showed little sign of any nerves in his first ever match against a top-ten player. He matched Nadal shot-for-shot, finding winners from the baseline as he challenged the world No. 3 on his serve, but Nadal remained unflustered to seal the victory.

Nadal will meet John Isner in round three after the big-serving American fought back from a set down to beat Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 1-6 7-6(6) 6-2.

Fifth seed Andy Roddick was forced to withdraw from his second round match against Feliciano Lopez with illness.

"I guess I've got a stomach virus," Roddick said. "I got here and on Sunday night through Monday evening I was up for 24 hours vomiting, sweating, the whole deal.

"I played doubles yesterday but I felt I was late to the party on everything. I woke up this morning thinking I would be able to play, but after practice I felt I couldn't see the ball very well and I think if I can't focus on the tennis ball very well I can't compete."

Lopez made light work of beating Roddick's replacement Oscar Hernandez 6-1 6-2 and will now meet Ernests Gulbis in round three after the Latvian continued his impressive run to knock out tenth seed Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(2) 6-4.

No. 4 seed Robin Soderling is out of the competition after he came off distinctly second best against Nicolas Almagro. Last year's Roland Garros runner-up was broken four times en route to a 6-4 7-5 defeat.

Marin Cilic needed just 66 minutes to seal a 6-3 6-0 victory over Eduardo Schwank, while 14th seed Thomaz Bellucci struggled with his serve as he crashed to a 6-2 6-2 defeat to Juan Monaco.

Gael Monfils and Stanislas Wawrinka both progressed to round three by virtue of their opponents' respective retirements. Monfils and Philipp Petzschner had been on court just 11 minutes when the German retired with a leg injury, while Wawrinka was leading 6-2 4-2 when Leonardo Mayer called time.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was yet another player to find the strain too much in Spain, retiring after one set of his match with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Tsonga trailed 6-2 when he called a halt to the action. There were no such worries for Jurgen Melzer, who beat Mardy Fish 3-6 6-1 6-4.

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