Italian Open: Rafael Nadal advances to third round of Rome Masters as Nicloas Almagro quits

Rafael Nadal moved ahead to the Rome Masters third round when fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro was forced to quit with a left knee injury.   Three-time French Open quarter-finalist Almagro-he lost all three to Nadal-was unable to continue after just 24 minutes while trailing his compatriot 3-0 in the first set.     

It was the 50th win for Nadal in Rome and he is on a hot streak after sweeping the titles on clay at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and last weekend in Madrid.     

"I am happy with almost everything, I am playing well. I won a lot of matches this year," said the fourth seed, who next faces Jack Sock as he builds up to Roland Garros where he will be chasing a 10th title.     

"There is always things to improve, but it is not the right time to say I'm not happy with one thing or another. "Always there is the motivation to keep going and to keep improving something."     

Nadal though was highly disappointed to see Almagro injured who he also helped from the court.

"It's difficult to say something because we need to waita couple of days. It's difficult to see what's going on now just after what happened," he said.     

Joining Nadal in the next round was Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, who beat Benoit Paire 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 while Canadianfifth seed Milos Raonic ended the Rome run of 39-year-old Tommy Haas, 6-4, 6-3.     

ALSO READ: ATP rankings: Rafael Nadal moves up to fifth after Monte Carlo win

In women's tennis, world number one Angelique Kerber crashed out, the top seed beaten 6-4, 6-0 in the second round by Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.     

Second seed Karolina Pliskova beat Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-1, Madrid champion Simona Halep started with a win over Germany'sLaura Siegemund, 6-4, 6-4 and eighth seed Elina Svitolina put out Alize Cornet 6-4, 7-6 (13/11).     

French Open champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain had to recover to post a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Latvian qualifierJelena Ostapenko.

With PTI inputs