Sunday, March 11, 2012

Rafael Nadal eases through at Indian Wells


Rafael Nadal eased into the third round at Indian Wells with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

Playing in his first match since losing an epic Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic, the two-times champion broke Meyer twice in each set to advance.

Nadal, at least a semi-finalist for the past six years, next faces compatriot Marcel Granollers.

In the doubles, Andy and Jamie Murray beat fellow Brits Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins.

Having lost in the second round of the singles, Andy Murray looked set for an early exit in the doubles when he lost the first set alongside brother Jamie 6-3 to a pairing that recently won the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships. .

But the pair won the second 6-2 before prevailing 13-11 in a champions tie break in which both pairings had chances to win the match.

Earlier, Nadal showed few signs of ring rust on his return to competitive action as he dominated Mayer from the baseline to set up the meeting with Granollers, a 6-3 2-6 6-3 winner over Tommy Haas.

Former US Open champion and ninth seed Juan Del Potro beat Australian Marinko Matosevic 7-5 6-2 while Fernando Verdasco was too strong for Ryan Sweeting, winning 6-2 6-2.

But two seeds did fall with Marcos Baghdatis beating Feliciano Lopez (15) while Denis Istomin edged out number 31 Juan Ignacio Chela in three sets.

In the women's draw, China's Li Na beat compatriot Chinese Zheng Jie for the loss of only four games while Germany's Julia Goerges saw off Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-4.

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