Djokovic, Nadal win in Rome

ROME, April 29 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal each posted straight-set wins Thursday in third-round play at the $2.97 million Italian Masters in Rome.

Djokovic, the tournament's No. 2 seed, had a solid 6-4, 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci, winning 58 percent of the points in the match. He dropped serve twice, but those games accounted for more than half of the 15 points he lost in his 10 service games.

Nadal, seeded third, rolled over Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2, saving all five of the break-point situations he faced. Nadal won 70 percent of the points on serve.

Fourth-seeded Andy Murray and No. 5-seed Robin Soderling were both straight-set losers Thursday. Murray was dumped 6-3, 6-4 by No. 13-seeded David Ferrer and Soderling fell 6-3, 6-2 to Stanislas Wawrinka.

No. 6-seeded Fernando Verdasco defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in a match that took more than two hours, and seventh-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stopped Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-4 in other matches involving seeded winners.

Ernests Gulbis beat Filippo Volandri 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) in the only match of the day between unseeded players.

Feliciano Lopez advanced on a walkover when 11th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic couldn't play because of a left-side strain.