Nikolay Davydenko in action against Ivan Ljubicic on Tuesday. (AP)

Hamburg: Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko helped himself to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Ivan Ljubicic to reach the third round of the Hamburg Masters on Tuesday.

Davydenko took advantage of a stream of unforced errors from Croatian Ljubicic to seal an easy win in one hour 24 minutes on the red clay court.

The world No. 4 has one Masters Series title to his name already this season, after beating Nadal in the final on a hard court in Miami, and he has made a decent start to the clay-court season.

In another second-round match early on Tuesday, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco had an even easier win as he saw off Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2, 6-0.

In doubles action, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas bowed out, going down 2-6, 3-6 to American pair James Blake and Mardy Fish in the pre-quarter finals.

Leander Paes and his new Spanish partner, Tommy Robredo, got a bye in their first round. They face the formidable third-seeded Israeli duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the pre-quarter finals.

On Monday, Britain’s Andy Murray put last year’s Hamburg Masters nightmare behind him by beating Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.

Murray’s stay in Hamburg last year was cut short when he suffered a serious wrist injury, a problem that caused him to miss both the French Open and Wimbledon.

Twelve months on, the 15th seed enjoyed a stress-free return to northern Germany as he saw off Tursunov with a commanding performance.

The Scot faces France’s Gilles Simon in the second round.