The slippery blue clay may be gone, but the Madrid Open continues to produce surprises.

Rafael Nadal made a comfortable start to his quest for a third Madrid Masters title on Wednesday but Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka slumped to a shock exit.

Grigor Dimitrov stunned Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Madrid Open on Tuesday, beating the top-ranked Serb 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-3 for the biggest win of his career.

Singapore Wednesday won the right to host the showpiece WTA Championships from 2014 in a record five-year deal which looks set to give a huge boost to tennis in Asia.

Maria Sharapova survived a sticky start to move into the second round of the WTA Madrid Open on Monday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania.

Australia's Brad Drewett, the president of the ATP, died on Friday at the age of 54 following a battle against motor neurone disease, the governing body of men's tennis announced.

Maria Sharapova is keeping her feet on the ground over the possibility of wresting back the world number one spot from Serena Williams at the Madrid Masters.

Top seed David Ferrer had to dig deep to reach the quarterfinals at the ATP Portugal Open on Wednesday finally overcoming Frenchman Eduardo Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

China's Li Na has said she expects a tough battle in Sunday's final at the Stuttgart WTA clay-court tournament against defending French Open champion Maria Sharapova.

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got through another tough test in outlasting Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Prix.