Djokovic, Nadal advance to 3rd round in Madrid Open

Defending champion Novak Djokovic recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the third set to defeat Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 and reach the third round at the Madrid Open yesterday.

Djokovic rallied in the final set by breaking Almagro to go up 65 and served out to earn his 15th win of the season in over two hours. The victory left Djokovic on track to play a semifinal against four-time Madrid champion and home-crowd favorite Rafael Nadal, who struggled in a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4 win over a Fabio Fognini of Italy in just under three hours.

Nadal will play Nick Kyrgios of Australia, who defeated Ryan Harrison of the United States 6-3, 6-3. The second-seeded Djokovic will play veteran Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who got past Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3).

Djokovic cruised in the first set by breaking the 76th-ranked Almagro three times. The Spanish wild card entrant rallied in front of the home crowd in the second set, saving all four break points he conceded and breaking at 4-5 to eventually extend the match.

Almagro was two points away from going up 4-2 in the final set but was not able to capitalize on his chances.

It was an important openinground win for the second-ranked Djokovic as he tries to turn his season around and regain his form going into the French Open later this month.

Djokovic won in Doha to start the season but never made it past the quarterfinals in the following four tournaments he played. In his first clay-court tournament, in Monte Carlo, Djokovic was eliminated by David Goffin in quarterfinals.

Djokovic had his playing time diminished this year because of an elbow injury. Wednesday’s match was his first since splitting with longtime coach Marian Vajda.

Nadal had a tough start against Fognini, needing to save 10 of 12 break points conceded to the Italian in the first set alone. Fognini served for the set at 5-4 but was not able to capitalize on his chance.

He threw his racket on the ground three times in a row after losing a decisive point in the tiebreaker.

It was the 11th straight win for Nadal, and his tour-leading 30th victory for the year. The fifthranked Spaniard has won 22 of his last 24 sets.

Nadal was coming off titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and had made it to three finals earlier in the year.

Fognini had three career wins over Nadal, including one in the 2015 US Open, but had lost the last three in straight sets.