Rafael Nadal made just three unforced errors in front of Spain's Queen Sofia as he dispatched Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-1 in his opening match of the Madrid Open on Wednesday. The world No. 1's concentration was broken only by a ball girl who fainted in the second set and had to be carried off center court. Nadal won the tournament in 2005 when it was an indoor hard-court event, but was gunning for a first title since the tournament switched to his favored clay this year. After winning his 31st consecutive match on clay since last May, he said he liked the extra pace at Madrid from playing at 1,970 feet above sea level. Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Gilles Simon also were winners after first-round byes. But there were upsets aplenty on the women's side, with exits for three leading Russians, No. 3-seeded Elena Dementieva, No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 8 Nadia Petrova. Djokovic, coming off winning his hometown Serbia Open title on Sunday, eased past Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-3, 6-3 despite falling awkwardly on his right knee early in the second set. Djokovic fell in the rankings this week from third to fourth despite winning the Serbia Open on Sunday – the country's first ever ATP Tour event which he also helped organize. Andy Murray surpassed him in the world rankings. Fifth-seeded del Potro progressed when Tomas Berdych, who won his fifth career title last weekend at Munich, had to retire in the second set with a leg injury. Eighth-seeded Simon beat Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2 and other winners included Nikolay Davydenko, Stanislas Wawrinka and James Blake. Philipp Kohlschreiber of German ousted 13th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2) and will next try to beat Nadal for the first time in five meetings. On the women's side, two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo beat Dementieva 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 on clay for the first time in 10 years in extending her record against the Russian to 10-6. “I felt lethargic in the first set but then my energy began to return in the second and I started to play more aggressively,” Mauresmo said after the third-round match. Kuznetsova, who beat top-ranked Dinara Safina in the Stuttgart final then lost to her compatriot in the Rome final in the last two weeks, fell for the third time on clay to Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2. Patty Schnyder removed Petrova 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5) in the third round. In the second round, seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Peng Shuai of China 6-4, 6-1, while Russia's Vera Dushevina beat Italy's Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 4-6, 6
