Nadal looks in good form ahead of May's French Open

Spain's Rafael Nadal remains on course to retain his Rome Masters title after sweeping aside Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1 6-3 to reach the third round.

The 23-year-old broke the German world number 29 four times in a match that lasted only one hour and 10 minutes.

Nadal eased through the first set, breaking in the second and sixth games.

Kohlschreiber wasted a chance to break Nadal in the fifth game of the second set and was made to pay as the Spaniard broke again on his way to victory.

Nadal, the world number three, faces Romania's Victor Hanescu in the next round as he aims to win his fifth title in six years at the Foro Italico.

606: DEBATE How will Nadal do this season?

"It probably wasn't my best match but I did well, I played safe," said Nadal.

"I was focussed the whole time and I tried to be more aggressive.

"He made more mistakes than usual which helped me a little bit but my serve was working very well."

Fifth seed Robin Soderling also moved into the third round with a 6-1 7-5 win over Italian wild card Paolo Lorenzi.

World number 10 and seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recorded an easy 6-2 6-3 win over Serbian Viktor Troicki, sixth seed Fernando Verdasco overcame Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6 (13-11) 6-3, while 11th seed Ivan Ljubicic beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-5 7-6 (7-3).

However, former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt fell to a 6-2 6-3 loss to Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

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