Djokovic, Wawrinka, Li Na advance to third round of Italian Open

World No.2 Novak Djokovic, Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka and women's No.2 Li Na have progressed to the third round of the Italian Open after beating their respective opponents on Tuesday in their second round clashes.

Djokovic, who pulled out of last week's Madrid Open following a wrist injury, showed no signs of discomfort in his first match back as he beat Czech world number 43 Radek Stepanek 6-3 7-5 in his first appearance since losing to Roger Federer in the Monte Carlo semi-finals last month.

According to the BBC, third seeded Wawrinka thrashed Spanish qualifier Pere Riba 6-0 6-3 while fifth seed Ferrer of Spain beat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-1 6-2.

The report mentioned that in the second round of the women's event, Chinese ace seed Li beat Australia's Casey Dellacqua 6-1 6-4.

Serbian ace Djokovic, who had won the previous four ATP Masters 1000 titles including the first two of 2014, has won 44 of his last 47 matches and will next play Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat 16th seed Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-2 6-4, the report added.