Halep sails past Mertens, Potro wins on return

MADRID, May 9 (AFP): Reigning champion Simona Halep edged closer to a third consecutive Madrid Open title by beating Belgium's Elise Mertens in the second round on Tuesday.

Halep, the winner here in 2016 and 2017, was made to work harder in the second set on Manolo Santana but the world number one's 6-0, 6-3 victory was never in doubt.

Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic will now await Halep in the last 16 as the Romanian continues to prepare for the French Open, where she has twice gone the distance only to finish runner-up.

Halep won the first eight games in a row to lead 6-0, 2-0, with her clay-court counter-attacking too strong for the 22-year-old Mertens to handle.

Mertens offered some late resistance as her opponent's concentration wavered, but a double fault confirmed Halep's victory in a brief one hour and 11 minutes.

Juan Martin del Potro made a winning start to his clay-court season by seeing off Damir Dzumhur in his first match since losing in the Miami Open semi-finals to John Isner in March. The former US Open champion, who has won two titles this year including at Indian Wells, had far too much for his Bosnian opponent in a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win.

Del Potro admitted that his persistent wrist injuries make clay more difficult for him than other surfaces.

"On clay you can't use the slice much, which is a blow because I've been using it more for my wrist problems," he said.