Novak Djokovic cruises into third round of Madrid Open

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic moved into the third round of the Madrid Open, beating Borna Coric 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Djokovic of Serbia was out-aced 4-2 by the 19-year-old Croatian in their first meeting but controlled the run of play from the baseline. Djokovic only dropped five points on serve in the first set and closed out the win in 78 minutes with the lone service break of the second set.

Djokovic is bidding to become the first man to win 29 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events. He is currently tied with Rafael Nadal with 28 titles.

Djokovic, the 2011 Madrid champion, improved to 17-6 at the event and will next face No. 15 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who edged fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

"(It) was a satisfying performance against a young player that I had never played against, somebody who was in form," Djokovic said of Coric. "I watched his match against (Nicolas) Almagro, who won a tournament last week, and he beat him comfortably. That deserves respect.

"We know each other well. We've practice many times. I do see myself in him a little bit. We play a similar style. He's a great fighter. For his age, he's quite mature and mentally tough. We have a very nice relationship. Today was the first official match we've played against each other, so I was happy with my performance. It was a fun match to be part of."

Nick Kyrgios upset world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2) to advance to the third round.

Wawrinka also never lost his serve, erasing four break points in the one-hour and 45-minute match. At 2-3 in the second-set tie-break, Kyrgios earned a mini-break when Wawrinka couldn't handle a ball that skidded off the line. The unseeded Australian then won the next three points for the win over the Swiss.

No. 9 seed David Ferrer of Spain also moved into the third round by outlasting American qualifier Denis Kudla 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan narrowly avoided an upset bid by Fabio Fognini of Italy, winning 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Eighth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Repub swept past qualifier Denis Istomin of Russia 6-3, 6-3.

On the women's side, fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the tournament due to a back injury.

Azarenka said she "tweaked" her back during her opening match against Laura Robson and that the pain persisted during her second-round win over Alize Cornet.

Azarenka had been scheduled to play American qualifier Louisa Chirico on Wednesday but withdrew during the warm-ups.

Daria Gavrilova of Russia knocked out defending champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in the third round and will face Chirico in the last eight.

Gavrilova impressed throughout the match, breaking three times en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory.