Nadal through in Madrid

Rafael Nadal cruised through to the third round of the Madrid Open with a straight-sets win over Nikolay Davydenko on Wednesday.

The Spaniard never looked in any bother against his Russian opponent and broke him four times en route to a 6-2 6-2 victory and a place in the last 16. Joining him in the next round of the competition is compatriot David Ferrer after the fifth seed dumped out Radek Stepanek 7-6 (7/4) 6-2. The biggest casualty on the controversial blue clay was eighth seed John Isner who was beaten in straight sets by Croatia's Marin Cilic 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/3). After defending champion Novak Djokovic blasted the new surface, Isner refused to jump on the bandwagon and blame the blue clay for his defeat. "I always felt that this tournament even with the red clay was the most slippery I have ever played on," he said. "It's tough for a big guy like me but my opponent was also a big guy and, like I said, he was just better and deserved to win and I did not deserve to win. "I just didn't play particularly well today which has nothing to do with the courts." Also through to the next round are Gael Monfils, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Stanislas Wawrinka and Fernando Verdasco.