Fourth seed Guillermo Coria booked his place in the third round of the Madrid Masters with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Christophe Rochus on Wednesday.
Top seed and world number two Rafael Nadal confirmed he will be fit to play a second round match against Victor Hanescu of Romania later after a scan showed he was recovering from the tendinitis problems in his knees.
Argentina's Coria, who has reached two Masters Series finals this year before losing both to Nadal, made an authoritative start on centre court, breaking in the second game against the Belgian.
The 23-year-old worked Rochus around the court with a string of whipped forehands and never allowed his opponent to get to the net in the first set.
Both players struggled on their serve in the second set, exchanging three breaks apiece in the first eight games, before former French Open winner Coria broke through in the ninth and then served out to take the match.
Coria will meet Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, who beat Fernando Verdasco of Spain on Tuesday, in the third round.
Ninth seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden disposed of Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6, 6-3 and faces another Argentine David Nalbandian, the runner-up in Madrid in 2004, in his next match.
British number one Tim Henman, in lively form in his first round victory over fellow serve-and-volleyer Taylor Dent on Monday, meets Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic later.
Giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who beat Britain's Greg Rusedski on Tuesday, faces another big-hitter when he takes on second seed Andy Roddick.
The winner will be matched against 14th seed Domink Hrbaty after the Slovak cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Germany's Tommy Haas in his second round match.
MEN'S SINGLES (Second Round): 9-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-6(2) 6-3; 4-Guillermo Coria (Argentina) beat Christophe Rochus (Belgium) 6-3 6-4; 14-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-4 6-2.
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