Madrid Results: Fed, Murray and Jankovic Cruise, Nadal and Stosur Squeek By

Sorry for skipping the results yesterday. FYI- Petrova upset Serena. Soderling lost. Jankovic beat Ivanovic. Tsonga was upset. Roddick withdrew with a stomach bug. Now, you're all caught up.

Today, Andy Murray showed his most impressive tennis since reaching the Aussie Open final, crushing Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-1. The win marked the first back-to-back W's for the Scot since Indian Wells in March. Murray told the press afterwards, "Hanescu isn’t an out-and-out clay-court player so it was a different match than you normally get, but I felt comfortable.” Jurgen Melzer has also started to get back on track in Madrid, earning a huge win in straight sets over Fernando Verdasco, 7-5, 6-3. Roger Federer has earned himself a rematch with his conqueror in Rome, Ernests Gulbis. The Swiss beat his countryman, Stanislas Wawrinka, rather easily today, surrendering just 4 games. Gulbis defeated Feliciano Lopez, the beneficiary of Andy Roddick's withdrawal, 6-2, 7-6.

Just 24 hours after Serena Williams played the longest match of her career in beating Vera Dushevina, the American was forced to hop back on court against Nadia Petrova, a scheduling that Williams greatly criticized. Petrova forced the world number 1 into an uncharacteristic 41 errors in the 3 set win. Shahar Peer advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Arantxa Parra. Jelena Jankovic crushed Anabel Medina-Garrigues 2 and 0 to book her spot in the final 8.

Rafael Nadal has had a tougher time than usual this week, as he has had to gut out tight sets despite his clay-court dominance. Thursday was no different, as American John Isner put up a valiant effort in a 7-5, 6-4 loss to the Spaniard. Nadal's compatriot David Ferrer cruised by against Marin Cilic, 6-3, 6-2, while both Gael Monfils and Nicolas Almagro advanced in 2 setters.

Sam Stosur had a much more difficult time than expected handling the clever craftiness of Patty Schnyder, but ultimately the Aussie, who has been one of the more impressive women on tour during this clay-court season, won 7-6 (3), 6-2. Li Na took out Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-4 and Aravane Rezai outlasted Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 7-6 (8) in an exciting match.