After a five week rest for Roger, it was back to business in Madrid. He had to overcome a strong in-form Milos Raonic and Frenchman Richard Gasquet. 

Against Raonic, Federer was very rusty and lacking consistency in his ground strokes in the first set. Both players were holding their serve well, but a dreadful game from Federer led to Raonic serving out the set comfortably.

Federer had to save even more break points in his opening service game in the 2nd set, but saved them with big serving. He broke Raonic to grab the set and force the match into a decider. Raonic had break points again, but unforced errors ruined his chances. Roger played great in the tiebreak to win 4-6 7-5 7-6(4). It was good to see Roger improve as the match progressed, otherwise he would of lost as Raonic had 8 break point chances and only converted one.

"Right now, I'm just playing good tennis and it's a big win because wins like this can create great things," said Federer. "It was pretty much a big struggle for me tonight but the level is pretty good and I'm happy where I am in the season." 

Roger faced Richard Gasquet in the third round and cruised comfortably to claim a 6-3 6-2 victory. There was nothing wrong with Roger today, he played well and chose a good strategy by mixing it up to beat Gasquet. He hit very cleanly and looks good for his match against Ferrer who saved 3 M.P to beat Almagro. Their H2H was 12-0 in Federer's favour, their last meeting in clay was at Madrid two years ago. I predict it will be a close straight set victory for Federer - 6-4 6-4. 

"Overall I think I played a smart match and served well when I had to and played well on the big points again which I am very happy about," said Federer.