Novak Djokovic overcame a testing debut on the blue clay at the Madrid Masters to reach the third round on Tuesday, while top-ranked Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova beat Czech opponents to advance in the women’s event.

Djokovic’s first match on the Magic Box’s unorthodox surface was far from memorable as the top-ranked Serb laboured to a 6-2 2-6 6-3 victory over Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

The defending champion was cruising until the second set when his 137th-ranked Spanish opponent broke for 2-1. Djokovic then made four straight unforced errors in his next service game – including two double faults – to go down 4-1.

Djokovic complained about the surface throughout, but managed to get his emotions in check and his game together to take a decisive 4-2 lead in the third set before sealing his 25th match win of the season.

Djokovic, who like Rafael Nadal has been critical of the new-look clay top, hit 20 winners to 24 unforced errors.

Hard-hitting Canadian player Milos Raonic beat Argentina’s David Nalbandian 6-4 6-4 to set up a date with Roger Federer on Wednesday, when Nadal debuts on the blue clay against Nikolay Davydenko.