Rafa Nadal continued his magnificent run of form on the ATP circuit with a comprehensive victory in his opening match at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters on Wednesday.

The second-seeded Spaniard took just 49 minutes to dismantle Frenchman Florent Serra in a 6-0 6-1 second-round win at the hardcourt event.

Rafa has won his last five events and has a 30-match winning streak since a second-round defeat to Juan Carlos Ferrero at Rome in early May

Rafa lost only 10 points in the opening set and won 75% of his return points, breaking Serra three time and will now face Tommy Haas of Germany in the third round. Haas was leading Gael Monfils 5-1 when Monfils retired.

Rafa avoided a possible quarter-final with compatriot David Ferrer after the fifth seed was upset 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 6-3 by unseeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

World number three Novak Djokovic defeated Italy's Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/2) in the second round to set up a meeting with Italy's Andreas Seppi.

Seventh-seeded James Blake, who is in the same quarter of the draw with Djokovic and is the best American hope following the late withdrawal of sixth seed Andy Roddick, reached the third round with an impressive 6-4 6-3 win over unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Eighth seed Andy Murray got past unseeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 and will take on Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who ousted 11th seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (10/8), 6-0.

Tenth seed Fernando Verdasco also advanced with a 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/4) victory over Chris Guccione.