Milos Raonic moves on to Italian Open round of 16

Milos Raonic scored a decisive straight-sets victory Wednesday morning over German Tommy Haas at the Italian Open in Rome.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., used his dominant serve to dispatch Haas in a little over an hour. Raonic lost only 13 service points while firing 10 aces past the 39-year-old veteran and saving both break points he faced.

Raonic, seeded fifth, will face 12th-seed Tomas Berdych in third-round action Thursday.

The 26-year-old Raonic has won four of his last six games against the Czech veteran, but Berdych took their last clay-court match in Monte Carlo in 2015.

Raonic is 5-2 this season on clay, and advanced to his first final on this surface two weeks ago in Istanbul.

Nadal extends winning streak

Rafael Nadal hardly had to get his socks dirty to extend his winning streak to 16 matches.

Back to being the best player on tour over the last month, Nadal advanced from his opening match at the Italian Open on Wednesday when Nicolas Almagro retired in the first set with an apparent injury.

Nadal was leading 3-0, 15-30 when Almagro bent over toward the red clay court and grasped his left knee. 

The fourth-ranked Nadal remained on court for a practice session.

Nadal has won consecutive clay-court tournaments in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. He's aiming for an eighth title at the Foro Italico as he prepares for the French Open, which starts in less than two weeks.

Nadal will next face either 13th-seeded Jack Sock or Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.

Top-ranked Kerber loses opener

Elsewhere, top-ranked Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, lost her opening match at the Foro Italico to Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-0.

Kerber joined Andy Murray, the top-ranked men's player, on the sidelines after Murray's loss to Fabio Fognini on Tuesday.

Also, seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori beat David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 and will next face del Potro.

Nishikori showed no lingering pain from the right wrist injury that prompted him to withdraw from the quarterfinals in Madrid last week.

Also, second-seeded Karolina Pliskova defeated Lauren Davis of the United States 6-1, 6-1, and sixth-seeded Simona Halep beat Laura Siegemund of Germany 6-4, 6-4.

Eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina eliminated Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 7-6 (11), and 15th-seeded Kiki Bertens beat American qualifier CiCi Bellis 6-4, 6-0.