NEWS 2

(CNN) -- Juan Martin del Potro continued his march up the rankings with a first round victory over 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny at the Madrid Masters Tuesday.

Argentina's Del Potro won in Estoril at the weekend and battled past the Russian 6-1 3-6 6-3 as he bids for a second straight tournament win.

The 2009 U.S. Open champion was out of action for eight months last year after wrist surgery but has now won two titles in 2011 and claimed wins in 24 of 28 matches since February.

Del Potro said he was troubled by pain in his hip as he adjusts to clay, but fought it off.

"I wanted to win no matter what the pain.

"I didn't quit the match because I knew I could win it," he told AFP.

I didn't quit the match because I knew I could win it

--Juan Martin del Potro
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Juan Martin del Potro
David Ferrer
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Madrid Masters
There was a second round scare for world number six David Ferrer in his first match on home clay.

Ferrer dropped the middle set without winning a game before beating French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 7-5 0-6 6-0.

The Spaniard has lost to Rafael Nadal, top seed in Madrid, in the final of his last two tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona but had to fight hard for his victory in one hour 54 minutes.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun Lu upset 15th-seeded Estoril finalist Fernando Verdasco 7-6 7-5 and German Florian Mayer knocked out 16th-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 4-6 7-5 6-4.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went through to the third round against Spain's Per Riba 6-4 6-2.

In the accompanying women's tournament in the Spanish capital, top seed Caroline Wozniacki eased into the third round as she beat Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski 6-4 6-4.

Australian Samantha Stosur, last year's French Open runner-up came through two hard sets against Daniela Hantuchova to emerge a 7-6 7-5 winner at the Caja Magica.
COMMENT good for del potro