Rafael Nadal will face Nick Kyrgios in the third round after the Spaniard beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets on Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Nadal, a seven-time Rome champion, won 71 per cent of his service points (35/49) and broke the German four times to sail in his opener. The 29 year old is now 13-1 against Kohlschreiber, who won the BMW Open by FWU AG on clay in Munich last month.

Nadal lost his only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Kyrgios, a four-set contest at the 2014 Wimbledon.

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan survived three match points against fellow Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 13-11 in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday. The Bryans were down 9-8, 10-9 and 11-10 in the Match Tie-break before sweeping the final three points of the match.

Watch live doubles action from Rome on TennisTV.com

The three-time Rome champions saved five of six break points faced and advanced in 79 minutes. They remain in contention to win a third ATP World Tour title this year, all on clay (Houston and Barcelona).

In the quarter-finals, the fifth-seeded Bryans will take on fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. Murray/Soares edged Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev 6-1, 7-6(8). The young stars saved four match points in the second-set tie-break before succumbing in 75 minutes.

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, who secured their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title last week at the Mutua Madrid Open, were eliminated 6-2, 7-6(7) by the unseeded duo of Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers. Cuevas/Granollers erased all four break points faced and will take on Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the quarter-finals. Pospisil/Sock combined for nine aces and did not face a break point in ousting Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi 7-6(6), 6-4.

Madrid finalists Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea rallied to win 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-8 against Benoit Paire and Joao Sousa. Bopanna/Mergea won 10 of 11 second-serve return points in the second set and overcame a 7-6, 3-1 deficit before clinching victory in 89 minutes.

#NextGen star Nick Kyrgios earned his fifth Top 10 win of the season on Wednesday as he dismissed World No. 10 Milos Raonic in straight sets at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The World No. 20 won almost 80 per cent of his first-serve points and hit six aces to beat the Canadian 7-6(5), 6-3 and move into the third round.

The 21 year old is now 5-4 against Top 10 opponents this year, second to only World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in his number of elite victories. Djokovic is 12-0 this season against the world’s best players.

Kyrgios also improved to 3-2 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Raonic. The Aussie has won their past three matches, including another straight-sets win earlier this year at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

After he edged Raonic in the first set tie-break on Wednesday, Kyrgios grabbed two breaks in the second set to advance. Raonic also struggled to win first-serve points in the second set. He won 85 per cent of those points in the first set, but just 60 per cent in the second.

Raonic is 15-5 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, behind only Djokovic in wins. Kyrgios next will face Rafael Nadal or Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Four-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic recorded his 34th match win of the year on Wednesday when he booked his place in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia third round with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over qualifier Stephane Robert in 87 minutes.

World No. 1 Djokovic, who will next challenge Thomaz Bellucci, has lifted five trophies this year, including three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns. Bellucci advanced to the third round for the third time (also 2010 and 2015) with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Nicolas Mahut.

Djokovic saved one break point at 1-1, 30/40 in the first set and had to wait until the 12th game to break, when he converted his second set point opportunity.

Robert hit a stunning backhand winner to break Djokovic for a 2-1 lead in the second set. Djokovic had to wait patiently until the eighth game for his chance to break back. He sealed the win by breaking in the final game. Robert hit 33 winners, but committed 32 unforced errors. Djokovic won nine of his 15 points at the net, committing 14 unforced errors.

Robert, who turns 36 on 17 May, has qualified for all four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments this season.

Much has been expected of Lucas Pouille on the ATP World Tour and for a while, that pressure took its toll on the young Frenchman. But in 2016, significant investment in managing his on-court mentality is paying off for the 22-year-old Pouille and with it has finally come a sense of belonging at the top of professional tennis.

With the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon close to or just past 30 years old, France has been looking for its next tennis star. The spotlight has been firmly focussed in Pouille’s direction for the past few years. But the endless comparisons with current stars and questions about his potential added extra pressure to Pouille during his early days on the ATP World Tour.

As such, 2016 has been as much about proving his own potential to himself as to proving it to the watching media and fans. Wise words from his coach, Emmanuel Planque, and former French Roland Garros champion, Yannick Noah, look to have set Pouille on the right path to realising his potential.

“We’ve been working on my mental strength,” Pouille told ATPWorldTour.com ahead of his third-round match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where he made the most of his opportunity as a lucky loser to beat Ernests Gulbis in the second round.

“Sometimes I’m not able to play well because I put too much pressure on myself. I’m trying to be more relaxed and trying to focus on my game and trying to improve every day. Every time I’m on the court, I just think about my tennis and about improving. I think that’s made the difference between this year and last year. I’ve been working on it with my coach and Yannick Noah was working with us and is still helping us with this. I think it’s working well.

“When I want to talk to Yannick, or ask him a question, he’s always here to help me. He tells me to try to focus. He says, ‘You’re always going to miss a lot of shots, but carry yourself and every time try to improve on every shot and just think about what you’re doing at the moment and not what the consequences are going to be.’

“[The pressure] used to play on my mind, especially a year and a half ago when everyone was saying ‘You’re the next French player’. It was tough for me to deal with it. But now I just think about trying to play. The fact that I beat Richard (Gasquet, in Monte-Carlo) is a good thing. It means I’m one of the best players in France. I’m trying to focus on myself and my game and trying to work as hard as possible to get where I want to be.”

It hasn’t just been about the mental switch for Pouille, who also made the decision to move his training base to the warmer and sunnier climes of Dubai in August 2015, leaving behind his family and friends in France to give himself the best chance of improving his game.

A six-week training block in Dubai in the off-season quickly paid dividends for Pouille, who has recorded major milestone moments in the first four months of 2016. He claimed his first Top 10 win over No. 8 Ferrer to reach the fourth round in Miami, beat countrymen Nicolas Mahut and No. 10 Richard Gasquet to reach the third round in Monte-Carlo and a week later advanced to his first ATP World Tour final on clay in Bucharest, finishing runner-up to Fernando Verdasco in a rain-delayed Monday final.

“I have a lot of confidence right now,” said Pouille. “Making my first final in Bucharest was a great thing for me and qualifying in Madrid is proving to myself that now I’m playing great tennis and I’m part of the great players on the tour.”

His results this season have seen him jump almost 40 places from No. 91 in February to a career-high No. 52 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week. The Top 50 is within Pouille’s grasp, but the Frenchman has set his sights much higher.

“Top 50 isn’t far away, but my goal is not to be Top 50. It’s to be much more. Top 50 is just one step. If you reach this ranking, you’re sure to be in all the tournaments and that’s a goal. If I’m 48 or 45 or 42, it’s the same. I want to be Top 10, Top 5, winning Grand Slams. Top 50 will be a good step, though.

“I think I need to improve physically, get stronger, play match after match. After the match with Ferrer (in Miami), I was a bit tired and it was tough against Gilles [Simon]. I need to be stronger and able to play two, three, four, five long matches if I want to be a potential Grand Slam winner. It will take a lot of work, but I can improve everything.”

Coming into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, in 52 of the past 56 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (since ’10 Monte-Carlo), one of the Big Four: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Rafael Nadal have lifted the trophy. During that stretch, Djokovic has won 24 titles, Nadal 13, Federer 8 and Murray 7. Since 2013, one of the Big Four has reached the past 31 ATP Masters 1000 finals. On Wednesday, all four play their opening round matches.

In the opening match on Center Court, Federer and Next Generation star Alexander Zverev meet  for the first time. Federer is making his 16th appearance in Rome and looking for his first title after four runner-up showings (2003, 2006, 2013, 2015). The 34-year-old Swiss superstar is playing in only his fourth tournament of the season and he comes in with a 10-3 match record. The 19-year-old German, playing in Rome for the first time, enters with a 17-11 match record, already surpassing last year’s mark (14-17). He is trying to post his first career Top 10 win (0-7).

In the next match on, World No. 1 and two-time reigning champion Djokovic takes on French qualifier Stephane Robert for the first time. Djokovic, a four-time overall winner in Rome, comes in fresh off his record 29th career ATP Masters 1000 crown in Madrid and fifth title of the season. The 28-year-old Serb has a 33-2 match record on the season. The 35-year-old Robert is 1-7 lifetime against Top 10 opponents and his lone win came over No. 6 Berdych at 2011 Roland Garros.

In the evening session, top German Philipp Kohlschreiber meets seven-time Rome champion Nadal, who has won 12 of the previous 13 meetings (5-0 on clay). The Spaniard won the last meeting 63 63 in the semi-finals of Barcelona last month en route to the title. Kohlschreiber is playing a Top 10 opponent for the 101st time in his career (22-78), the eighth time this season (1-6). Nadal leads the ATP World Tour this year with a 17-3 clay court record and his 13-match winning streak came to an end with his SF loss last weekend at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (l. to Murray).

On Grandstand, in the second match on, Portugal’s No. 1 player, Joao Sousa, who is a career-high No. 30 this week in the Emirates ATP Rankings, takes on No. 13 seed Dominic Thiem, who is 4-1 in their FedEx ATP Head 2 Head meetings. In the next match on, qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, squares off with Murray, who is 3-0 in their head-to-head meetings (first on clay). Sousa is coming off his best result of the season, a QF at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid, while Murray was runner-up. In the last match on, Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and No. 9 David Ferrer collide for the 11th time (Ferrer leads 9-1, including 5-0 on clay), second week in a row (Madrid).

On Pietrangeli, in the third match on, the No. 2 players from their respective country are featured as No. 11 seed Richard Gasquet of France, takes on Italian Andreas Seppi. Gasquet owns a 5-1 advantage in their head-to-head. In the next match on, the youngest player in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings, No. 10 Milos Raonic (25), squares off with the youngest player in the Top 20, No. 20-ranked Next Generation star Nick Kyrgios (21). They have split the previous four meetings.