Rome, Italy (Sports Network) - Fresh off his Masters title in Madrid last week, Roger Federer was an easy second-round winner Wednesday at the $3.145 million Italian Open -- the fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year.

The third-seeded former world No. 1 Federer, a two-time Rome runner-up, cruised past Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-4 in 69 minutes on the red clay at Foro Italico. Federer, who moved up to No. 2 in the world on Monday, prevailed on a controversial blue clay surface last week in Spain for his ATP- record-tying 20th Masters title.

Federer's third-round opponent on Thursday will be fellow former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2001 Italian Open champ.

Meanwhile, last week's Madrid Open runner-up to Federer, Tomas Berdych, blew past Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-4, 6-1 and 10th-seeded Argentine star Juan Martin del Potro held his serve throughout in pasting former top-10 Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-2 on Day 4 here. The former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych is seeded seventh this week. The former U.S. Open champion del Potro was a clay-court champ in Estoril two weeks ago.

Del Potro will battle fifth-seeded French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Thursday.

Italian Andreas Seppi pleased the home faithful with a come-from-behind 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 upset of ninth-seeded American John Isner. Seppi was a surprise clay-court titlist in Belgrade two weeks ago.

In some other second-round action involving seeds, No. 13 Frenchman Gilles Simon snuck past Spanish qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; No. 12 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro dismissed American qualifier Sam Querrey, 7-5, 6-2; No. 14 Argentine Juan Monaco drilled Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-2; and No. 16 Frenchman Richard Gasquet erased Italian wild card Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-2. Monaco is rewarded with a match against current world No. 1 and reigning Italian Open champion Novak Djokovic, while Gasquet will take on fourth-seeded British star Andy Murray in the round of 16.

The two-time Italian Open champion Djokovic beat five-time winner Rafael Nadal in last year's finale here.

Another second-round result saw Spaniard Marcel Granollers straight-set wild card and Italian favorite Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4 amid windy conditions.

The 2012 Rome champ will earn $595,000.

05/16 15:02:41 ET