MADRID, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Swiss tennis great Roger Federer breezed past Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday at the Madrid Open to claim his first clay-court victory in three years.

It took the 20-time Grand Slam winner just 52 minutes to brush aside the French player in the second round.

"I'm glad to be back," said Federer, who last played on clay on May 12, 2016 when the three-time Madrid champion lost to Dominic Thiem in the Rome third round.

"I've been missing the clay, this is a great return, it's a special night for me," he said.

Federer claimed the Madrid title in 2006, 2009 and 2012 before the Swiss 37-year-old concentrated on grass-court events, winning Wimbledon in 2017.

Another easy win was claimed by top-seeded Novak Djokovic as the Serbian world No. 1 needed just 65 minutes to beat American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the men's singles last 16.

The ninth seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia rallied to win over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Austria's fifth seed Dominic Thiem also made the third round after Reilly Opelka quit at 6-7 (2), 6-3, 1-0.

On women's part, China's sole survivor Zheng Saisai denied a second set comeback from Alize Cornet, overcoming the Frenchwoman 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to join top-ranked Naomi Osaka and third seed Simona Halep in the third round.

Angelique Kerber was forced to withdraw after the fourth seeded German twisted her ankle in practice on Tuesday, while her scheduled opponent Petra Martic qualified automatically for the next phase.