Holder David Nalbandian had to fight past stubborn opponent Tomas Berdych at the Madrid Masters on Wednesday while American qualifier Robby Ginepri stunned fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Argentine seventh seed Nalbandian was playing his first match since lifting the Stockholm title at the weekend in a rampaging start to an indoor season which he dominated a year ago with back-to-back Masters titles in Madrid and Paris.

Nalbandian finally put down the Berdych rebellion 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 as he swept away to victory in the final set.

The South American fired nine aces and produced 32 winners to 34 unforced errors in a shade under two hours.

Ginepri, a semi-finalist three years ago, turned Davydenko into the highest-ranked upset victim so far, advancing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 as the Russian failed to get traction after a Moscow quarter-final performance last week.

The Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also fought back to overcome Spaniard Marcel Granollers 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

Tsonga is playing only his third event since returning from knee surgery in May, and proved the point as he won Bangkok last month.

The Frenchman said that he has nothing to prove and is only concentrating on winning his matches.

"I've only played ten or 11 events and I'm ranked 15th in the world - what would have happened had I been healthy and played 20?

"All I want to do is to play my tennis and try to do the best possible on the court," said Tsonga, who stands at 25-10 during this abbreviated season.

Croatian 14th seed Ivo Karlovic rained down 24 aces in a show of force to stop Swede Robin Soderling 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (10-8).