Rafael Nadal during his match against Oscar Hernandez on Thursday. (AP)

Hamburg: Roger Federer scraped into the third round of the Hamburg Masters with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win over Juan Monaco on Wednesday, while Rafael Nadal stretched his claycourt winning streak to 78 matches.

World No. 1 Federer had to save five break points to avoid going a break down in the deciding set against the Argentine qualifier before completing an unconvincing win in one hour 56 minutes.

Second seed Nadal also looked well below par as he struggled to impose himself in the first set against fellow Spaniard Oscar Hernandez, although he eventually won 7-5, 6-1.

Nadal goes on to face the Russian Igor Andreev, who was the last man to beat him on clay, back in April 2005 in the quarter finals in Valencia. Andreev outlasted the German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 to take his place in the last 16.

“The fact that it was Andreev who beat me in Valencia doesn’t make it anything special,” Nadal said at a news conference. “But he’s a very good player, with an unbelievable forehand and it’s going to be a tough match.

“I just hope the sun comes out.”

Play on the centre court took place under the roof, and with the rain lashing down outside there were only a handful of completed matches on Day 3 of the 2.1 million euros tournament.

The top two seeds were joined in the third round by Spain’s Carlos Moya, who beat Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 outside before the rain started, and 16th seed Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-2, 7-6.

Eighth seed James Blake of the US beat Arnaud Clement of France 6-2, 6-3, while Spanish 15th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero set up a third round match against Federer by beating the Russian Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6, after taking a nail-biting second-set tiebreak 17-15.

Federer, playing his first match since splitting with part-time coach Tony Roche, did little to suggest that he will challenge Nadal at the French Open later this month.

He started with an impeccable service game and looked in reasonable shape throughout the first set but both his footwork and his usually unerring forehand deserted him as the Argentine took control.

In Rome, third seed Jelena Jankovic edged into the quarter finals of the Italian Open when she beat Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko 6-4, 7-5 on Thursday.

In the last eight, she will face Elena Dementieva, who advanced when her opponent, fellow Russian and fifth seed Nadia Petrova, retired with a back problem at 4-3 and 0-15 down in the first set.

(Reuters)