May 14th, 2009 by Peter Bevan

Top seeded players Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick won their opening games of the ATP Madrid Masters. The top seeds are now through to the third round of the Madrid Masters in preparation for this month’s French Open Grand Slam at Roland Garros.

World number one, Rafael Nadal, eased past Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1 taking the win on his first match point. This was the 31st consecutive clay court win for Rafael Nadal, who has only lost four times on clay in the last 152 matches since the start of 2005.

World number four, Novak Djokovic, also won in straight sets to beat Oscar Hernandez 6-3, 6-3. Novak Djokovic did, however, fall awkwardly after slipping on the clay court at the start of the second set, but recovered to win break points in the fifth and ninth games.

Number six seed, Andy Roddick, had a tougher time having to come from a set down to take the 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory against Tommy Haas, finishing off with his ninth ace and his only break point win of the match.

Many top seeded players involved in third round matches of the ATP Madrid Masters are due to play later today.

British number three seed Andy Murray has an early start taking on Spaniard Tommy Robredo. Scheduled to play in the early afternoon is world number two Roger Federer against James Blake, and Novak Djokovic against Andreas Seppi.

On Thursday evening, scheduled matches include Rafael Nadal taking on unseeded Philipp Kohlschreiber and Andy Roddick facing a tough opponent in tenth seed Nikolay Davydenko.

The next Grand Slam tournament after this month’s French Open is the 2009 Wimbledon tennis championships. British tennis fans can catch their favourite players in action at Wimbledon, which takes place from June 22.

The world’s top seeded players will also be in action in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November, being held in the London O2 Arena.

Wimbledon tickets and tickets for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are available to compare at tixdaq.com.