Nadal cruises through

Defending champion wastes little time to reach the third round

Last updated: 15th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Nadal cruises through

Nadal: Straight sets win

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Third seed Rafael Nadal wasted little time in booking his place in the next round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as he blew away Rainer Schuettler.

Nadal, the defending champion, was too strong for his German rival as he rattled off a 6-4 6-4 victory.

"Indian Wells is one of my favourite tournaments and I always feel like I'm at home here," Nadal said. "I have very happy memories here.

"It was a good start in the conditions for me and I'm very happy. It was difficult to adapt but I start the match playing well.

"Later, when I was playing in favour of the wind, it was very difficult for me with the backhand because I feel if I only touch the ball, the ball was out. It went too much.

"I feel really well with the forehand, and that's very important to my game. Maybe I can play better in better conditions with the backhand."

The Spaniard will now face Mario Ancic in the third round, with the unseeded Croat having stuttered to a three-set win over Julien Benneteau.

Frenchman Benneteau can count himself unlucky not to have set up a showdown himself but it was Ancic who came through with a 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 victory.

Recovered

World No.2 Novak Djokovic also recovered from the loss of a set to reach the third round.

In a topsy-turvy match, the Serbian, who was guilty of conceding five double faults, went to pieces in the second set against Mardy Fish before recovering his composure to topple the American 6-1 0-6 6-2.

Fellow seeds Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco enjoyed more straight forward victories.

Fifth-seeded Russian Davydenko overcame Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4, while 10th seed Verdasco cruised past Ramon Delgado 6-4 6-1 to set up a third-round tie with Tomas Berdych.

However the biggest upset of the day saw eighth seed Marin Cilic rolled over 7-6 (3-1) 6-0 by Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

John Isner, Sam Querrey, Juan Monaco, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Brian Dabul, Ivan Ljubicic, Viktor Troicki and Philipp Kohlschreiber are also through after second-round wins.