Veteran Czech Radek Stepanek on Tuesday ended the Madrid Masters run of Bernard Tomic in the first round, with the Queensland youngster exiting 6-2 7-5.

The 31st ranked Tomic, who reached a career-best first clay quarter-final last weekend in Munich, lost in less than 90 minutes on the blue clay of the Caja Magica.

He will now go into next week’s Masters 1000 in Rome, the final major stop before the May 27 start of the French Open in Paris.

“I didn’t play the right tennis the way I needed to,” said Tomic. “But full credit to him (Stepanek), he played a really good match. The blue clay was a bit strange for movement, it was slippery.

“I’m feeling good on clay and now I have three or four days to get ready for Rome. Hopefully I can play well there and win a few matches.”

In other early results, Croatia’s Marin Cilic beat Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-3 6-3 while Federico Delbonis of Argentina stopped another local as he put out Spain’s Albert Ramos 6-3 6-2.

Women’s second seed Maria Sharapova reached the third round, defeating Klara Zakopalova 6-4 6-3.

The Russian, whose match was started early due to the demands of television, said that a few days of training on the controversial blue clay surface last week paid dividends.

“It’s not so much about the colour. It does look good on television. But it plays a bit different. It’s about the amount of clay on the court and the way it bounces,” she said.

“You have to get used to it but I came here after winning Stuttgart and got in four or five days on it. I got settled in so it’s just a matter of adjusting. It’s also the same for everyone.”