Félix “The Cat” Auger-Aliassime, the most exciting teenager on the Tour alongside his fellow Canadian, Bianca Andreescu, will probably never have a better chance of beating the supreme clay-courter of this or any generation when he plays Rafael Nadal here on Wednesday.

The Spaniard rarely arrives at the Madrid Open without a European clay title to his name. The last time was 2015, when he had lost to Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semi-finals, Fabio Fognini in round three in Barcelona and then went down in two sets to Andy Murray in the final in his capital city.

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This year, Fognini beat him in the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Dominic Thiem stopped him at the same stage in Barcelona. As for Madrid, it might be a virus that does for him, although he hinted there are other demons at play. “I would have liked to come here with titles on clay in my bag,” he conceded on Tuesday, “but [there are] no more pressures [than usual] on my shoulders. What has happened in the past, it’s in the past and it doesn’t guarantee what will happen in the future. I know everything that has happened to me during these last 18 months, which I’m not going to explain now. Some things you know, others you don’t.”

The known ailment is the stomach bug that forced him to his bed on Sunday and he is not sure it has left him. “I’m not going to lie to you, I still have a not super-positive feeling about my health. Yesterday I trained a little bit and today I have trained a little bit more.”

As for Auger-Aliassime, the five-times Madrid champion said: “He’s young. He’s played a couple of matches on clay this year already so he’s going to be a difficult opponent. I have to be fit. Hopefully, my physical side will be there.”

Djokovic, meanwhile, looks to have put off-court distractions behind him after an unusually poor run since winning the Australian Open, finding a devastating rhythm against the young American, Taylor Fritz, who detained the world No 1 a mere 65 minutes on Tuesday.

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Bossing the net and baseline behind a clinical serve, Djokovic barely had to move out of second gear against an outclassed opponent and finished the job with an imperious forehand down the line to win 6-4, 6-2.

Fognini will walk with a piratical swagger for as long as he lives, but there is fresh conviction in his shoulders-back ambling since he won in Monte Carlo and it was Kyle Edmund’s turn to come up against the Italian on one of his smiling, sun-blessed days.

The world No 12 sat out Barcelona and Estoril to rest a right hamstring injury, but completed his seventh win on the spin, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and a half, and presses on to the second round in the same half of the draw as Djokovic.

Edmund did not serve well, but at least was happy with his “physical intensity” heading for Rome. “I fought well in terms of trying to get into the match,” he said, “and I did create opportunities: in the first set I had 0-40 at 3-2 and then there were two games where I had break points to get back in the second. You’ve just got to keep going, otherwise you keep losing if you feel sorry for yourself.”

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There was no joy for Johanna Konta, either, after a splendid run on clay over the past week. She arrived at the last minute from Rabat, where she made the final, blew Alison Riske away in two sets after very little sleep, then squandered early dominance against the world No 3, Simona Halep, who finished like a train to win 7-5, 6-1 in 88 minutes.

“I ran out of a little bit of steam in the second set and she just kept building on her level,” Konta said.

As ever, Konta found a reason to be cheerful. “In the past few years I haven’t had as much success on the clay as the other surfaces, but there’s no reason I cannot play on clay as well. I’m enjoying the fact I definitely feel I’m moving better on the clay.”

In the fairytale that will not lie down, David Ferrer – who is retiring after this tournament – kept his career going for at least one more match by beating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 – and next faces Alexander Zverev, whom he beat in Miami.

Richard Gasquet famously beat Roger Federer the first time they played, on the clay of Monte Carlo, but the bounceback in the 14 years since has been relentless. The 37-year-old Swiss inflicted his 18th win over the 32-year-old Frenchman in their 20 meetings, 6-2, 6-3 in just 52 minutes. Gasquet did well to recover some of his composure after a first-set walloping. Federer, returning to clay for the first time in nearly three years, next plays either Gaël Monfils or Marton Fucsovics, who upset David Goffin 6-4, 7-5.