World number one Rafael Nadal started his Sony Ericsson Open campaign with a routine victory over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
Spaniard starts off in Miami with comfortable victory
World number one Rafael Nadal started his Sony Ericsson Open campaign with a routine victory over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
The Spaniard is looking for back-to-back titles in Miami after winning the Masters Series event at India Wells last time out, and his campaign got off to the perfect start.
Nadal needed just 82 minutes to complete a 6-2 6-2 victory over Gabashvili as he converted five of his nine breaks points to stroll through without any problems.
After brushing aside the world number 72, Nadal will now face Portugal's Frederico Gil as his bid for a 14th Masters title continues.
"I'm very happy," Nadal said. "I think Gabashvili didn't really play a bad game. He played hard and I think I played well.
Practice
"I didn't practice as well as I did in Indian Wells. More wind here. It's more difficult to play but it's important to get the rhythm right with the match."
"I play more on hard than other surfaces. It's tougher on other surfaces. I played a little bit behind the court and on this court it's important to play a little bit more inside."
Nadal's next opponent Gil upset the odds by comfortably seeing off big-serving Croatian and number 26 seed Ivo Karlovic in straight sets, 6-4 6-4.
14th seed David Nalbandian was also a second round casualty as was soundly beaten by Serbia's Victor Troicki 6-1 6-3.
The Argentinian came within a whisker of beating Nadal in Indian Wells, but nalbandian was well off the pace against Troicki - who now faces lucky loser Bjorn Phau in an unlikely third-round clash.
The German was given a reprieve following Richard Gasquet's injury and he then benefited from another withdrawal when Albert Montanes retired from their match trailing 6-4 2-0.
Seeds through
Sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro had few problems as he brushed aside Argentinian compatriot Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-2 6-2.
Number eight seed Fernando Verdasco was also comfortable as he breezed past qualifier Benjamin Becker 6-3 6-4, while 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez was a 6-4 6-4 winner over Igor Kunitsyn.
David Ferrer, seeded 11th, overcame a strong challenge from giant qualifier John Isner to triumph 6-3 3-6 6-2, and 18th seed Radek Stepanek dropped a set before beating Bobby Reynolds 7-5 6-7 6-2.
Feliciano Lopez beat Sam Querrey 6-7 7-5 6-2, Marin Cilic defeated American Amer Delic 6-3 6-7 6-3 and Igor Andreev was astraight sets winner against Yen-hsun Lu.
Unpredictable Serb Janko Tipsarevic knocked out Austrian 30th seed Jurgen Melzer 6-4 6-3, while Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka beat Andreas Seppi 7-5 7-5.
