Gonzalez grinds past Spaniard to advance in Madrid

The fifth-seeded Chilean winner is keen to continue his progress with a place in next month's eight-man Masters Cup on offer.

 The South American stands provisional seventh in the chase for the event in Shanghai, with four places still open in the field.

 But the mass of ranking points on offer this week in Madrid and again in Paris at the season's concluding Masters at the Bercy arena means that performances at the two big events can make or break a player's chances.  

   Already qualified for the field: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko, who withdrew from Madrid with an elbow injury on Tuesday, a day after reaching a Shanghai place.

 Gonzalez overcame 11 aces from Almago as he earned a third-round spot after just over 90 minutes.

 The Chilean lost to Federer in the 2006 Madrid final, then carried that momentum into January's Australian Open title match, where he again was hammered by the all-conquering Swiss.

 Federer, meanwhile, was surely bearing down in training with personal spoiler Guillermo Canas looming as his Thursday opponent.

 The Argentine 13th seed beat compatriot Agustin Callier 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to set up his third meeting this season against Federer.

 Canas, back since last September from a doping ban, shocked the Swiss at two straight Masters events in March, with wins in Indian Wells and Miami which left Federer momentarily reeling.

 But he since recovered poise, reaching another Roland Garros final and winning a fifth straight Wimbledon and fourth consecutive US Open.

 Canas owns a 3-1 record in the series. 

   Later, crowd favourite Nadal was testing a pair of injured knees which have kept him off court since an early US open loss more than six weeks ago.

 He cannot have been encouraged after losing in doubles on Tuesday prior to his match with 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

 Spain's Fernando Verdasco was to play third seed Djokovic.