Nadal, Djokovic seal easy wins at Madrid Open

By Iain Rogers

MADRID (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal barely broke sweat to beat Juergen Melzer 6-3 6-1 in the second round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday and stay on course for a sixth title of the season and a fourth on clay.

Melzer, ranked 27, failed to carve out any break points against the Spanish claycourt master and lost his own serve four times before Nadal wrapped up the win on his first match point when the dispirited Austrian netted a limp forehand.

Nadal has only lost four times on his favoured surface in 152 matches since the beginning of 2005 and won three straight claycourt events at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome before coming to the Spanish capital.

The 22-year-old world number one, who begins his quest for a fifth straight French Open crown at the end of this month, will play unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.

World number four Novak Djokovic beat Oscar Hernandez 6-3 6-3 in the second round earlier on Wednesday to stay on course for his fifth successive final.

The Serbian third seed won a second title of the year in his native Belgrade at the weekend after losing in the final of the Masters events in Rome, Monte Carlo and Miami.

He took a nasty tumble at the start of the second set, slipping on the clay in the new Magic Box stadium and falling awkwardly, but recovered to break in the fifth and ninth games and sealed victory on his fourth match point when Hernandez went long with a sliced backhand.