Spaniard world's No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated on Wednesday Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1 at the Masters 1000 tournament of Madrid.
With his 61-minute victory, Nadal, favorite in the tournament, will face German Phillip Kohlschreiber on Thursday.
Media said that the match between Nadal and Kohlschreiber will be like an appetizer for the coming Davis Cup series, to be played in Malaga in July between Spain and Germany.
In other matches, Spaniard Oscar Hernandez lost to Seribian Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 in one hours and 38 minutes, Italian Andreas Seppi defeated Amerucan Sam Querry 6-3, 4-6 and 6-4.
Djokovic and Seppi will face each other in the quarterfinals at the Masters.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2009)