Beijing: Top seed Andy Murray and second seed Rafael Nada made their intentions clear with fluent victories in their first round China Open matches hard courts here Tuesday.
The 2005 champion, Nadal thumped Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-1. The Spaniard, looking for his third ATP World Tour title of the season after clay court crowns at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo and Barcelona, was rarely tested on serve in the 64-minute routing.
Meanwhile World No.2 Murray playing his first competitive match since his Davis Cup win over Guido Pella a fortnight ago, where he suffered a thigh injury, got back in the groove with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Andreas Seppi.
Nadal was ruthless in his display against the Italian. He won 79 per cent of his first serve points, including five aces, and saved both breakpoints. In the pair’s first hard court clash, Nadal was even more ruthless than his two prior victories over the Italian, breaking five times.
“Today I think I played a very solid match, playing very aggressive with my forehand,” Nadal said after the end of the tie. “I only played one not so good game. That was at 3-1 of the first set. But for the rest I played a very good match. I’m very happy.”
A runner-up here last year to Novak Djokovic, the Spaniard will face a fellow lefty in the second round; either compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas or French qualifier Adrian Mannarino. “Today is an important victory,” Nadal said. “There are points to try to qualify for the (Barclays ATP) World Tour Finals.”
There were doubts as to whether Great Britain’s Murray would play this year here. But, with a shot at the No.1 ranking in mind and no Novak Djokovic in the draw, Murray stuck to his itinerary and got the job done in straight sets against Seppi.
After an even start, Murray took the match by the scruff of its neck by reeling off four successive games which earned him the first set. A double fault handed Seppi a break early in the second set, but the British No.1 was able to recover the situation and after breaking back to take it to 2-2, he delivered another, decisive blow, at 6-5 to claim victory.
Nishikori survives
Meanwhile in Tokyo, local boy and top seed Kei Nishikori recovered from a nervy start to beat American Donald Young 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in his opening match at the Japan Open. The Japanese World No. 5, who reached the semifinals of last month’s US Open, looked horribly out of sorts against Young.
“I wasn’t being aggressive enough in that first set and was missing a lot of easy shots,” Nishikori told reporters. “He was coming into the net a lot but he slowed down in the second set and I began to find my range with my forehand.”
Agencies
