Kevin Anderson won his opening match of the Madrid Masters, defeating Olivier Rochus 6-2, 6-4. The big-serving South African sent down 12 aces and broke Rochus’ serve four times. He towered over his 30-year-old Belgian opponent.

Anderson now faces a overwhelming prospect in the second round. He will be facing the second seed Novak Djokovic, who has remained undefeated in 27 matches this year. Currently, Anderson is ranked 35 in the world.

Nikolay Davydenko went down to Spain’s Marcel Granollers 7-5. 6-2, while German Florian Mayer upset Serb 16th seed Viktor Troicki 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Mayer lost the finals on Sunday in Munich to Davydenko.

Djokovic and Anderson have met twice. In a tight three-setter, Anderson won in 2008 and Djokovic prevailed early last month, in the quarterfinals. Both the matches against one another were at the Miami Masters event (on hard courts).

In a season, which has seen Djokovic, rack up 27 wins for no losses, he is untouchable to date and he is living a tennis dream, which cannot go on.

The Serb admitted that he does not think that it is realistic to go without a defeat in the first for months of the season. He added that if you believe you can achieve it and you are fit physically and mentally fresh, motivated and dedicated to the sport, anything is possible.

The second seed owns five titles at the ATP-WTA Madrid Masters and he is coming into his first serious clay test of the spring in Madrid as the French Open start on May 22 draws near.

Oddsmakers from online sports book have Novak Djokovic is the favorite to march forward to the next round. The best odd for Djokovic is 1/33 and for Anderson, it is 14.

Kevin Anderson · Madrid Open · Novak Djokovic · Olivier Rochus

On Thursday, Rafael Nadal dispatched qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 6-1, 6-4 in his Thailand Open debut.

According to ESPN.com, the top-ranked Nadal lost only eight points on serve, in his first match since winning the U.S. Open.

When Nadal landed in Bangkok nine days ago, he got a hero’s welcome from government and sports officials. Nadal will meet either Olivier Rochus or Mikhail Kukushkin, in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Benjamin Becker won over second-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-4. Verdasco fell behind 4-0 in the first set. He accepted a wild card to play.

Becker held serve with an impressive volley to close the match and Verdasco lost the ninth game of the second set on a double-fault.

Verdasco said, “It was tough. I was practicing well but the match was different. He played better than me. He adapted better than me, he served well and didn’t make many unforced errors. He deserved the victory more than me.”

Nadal spent time in the beach town of Hua Hin and a first-round bye, planted a tree to support King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s campaign against global warming and also taking part in a Buddhist ceremony with monks.

To practice, he delayed a visit with Parliament and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, in Bangkok.

Mikhail Kukushkin · Olivier Rochus · Rafael Nadal · Ruben Bemelmans