Rome, May 16 (EFE).- Spain's Rafael Nadal withstood a barrage of aces and winners from Ernests Gulbis and came back from a disastrous first set Thursday at the Rome Masters to pull out a 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory and advance to the quarterfinals. A free-swinging Gulbis raced off to a 5-0 lead before Nadal finally held serve to get himself on the scoreboard. In the second set, Nadal went up a service break before squandering it, although he was able to break Gulbis' serve a second time to avoid a tiebreaker and even the match.

Rome, May 15 (EFE).- Spain's Rafael Nadal opened the defense of his Rome Masters title with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 second-round victory Wednesday over Fabio Fognini. The first-ever meeting between the two players was almost entirely void of drama, as Nadal broke the Italian's serve in the opening game and dictated play from the baseline throughout the contest.

Two-tme Rome masters champion Novak Djokovic began his campaign for a hat-trick trophy with a 70-minute, 6-2, 6-3 win over Albert Montanes which was wrapped up with an ace. The Serb was all smiles as he got the job done in his second-round start after a bye after losing a week ago in his opening match in Madrid to Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian threat was knocked out earlier by French ninth seed Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal made a comfortable start to his quest for a third Madrid Masters title on Wednesday but Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka slumped to a shock exit. Nadal eased past Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 and will next face either compatriot Nicolas Almagro or Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a place in the quarter-finals. One break in each set was enough for Nadal as he overcame some impressive variety and touch shown by Paire early on to break when the world number 37 was serving at 2-3 down in the opening set, before eventually sealing it 6-3.