Novak Djokovic Squeaks by in Madrid Open 2012 Second-Round Action

Novak Djokovic had a little trouble in his opening-round match in the Madrid Open Tuesday, but he battled through and got the win.

The Serbian pulled out a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Maybe it was the blue court that threw off Djokovic's game, or maybe the No. 1 player in the world is just going through a rough patch.

Djokovic lost in the finals to Rafael Nadal in his last tournament two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how he does this week against a top-notch field.

Tomas Berdych also won Tuesday in second-round action. In first-round action, Stan Wawrinka, No. 9 seed Gilles Simon, No. 14 Richard Gasquet, No. 10 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 12 Gael Monfils were all winners. No. 13 Feliciano Lopez lost to Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4. Milos Raonic beat David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-4, and he will play No. 3 Roger Federer today. Radek Stepanek defeated Bernard Tomic 6-2, 7-5.

In women's action, all of the top players in action advanced. No. 1 Victoria Azarenka held off Andrea Hlavackova 6-3, 7-6 (2), while No. 2 Maria Sharapova beat Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 6-3. No. 9 Serena Williams looked very impressive again as she dismantled Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1. She will next play No. 6 Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated Mona Barthel 6-4, 7-6 (2). No. 13 Ana Ivanovic was also a winner.

As all the big names continue to get through, it makes for a very intriguing back-end of the tournament.

Wednesday should be a great day full of interesting matches. In addition to Federer's match, Nadal plays Nikolay Davydenko, Stepanek plays David Ferrer, Ryan Harrison takes on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and John Isner plays Marin Cilic.

On the women's side, Azarenka is back in action against Ivanovic, and Li Na plays Angelique Kerber.

All in all it should be yet another great day of action on the bizarre blue clay.