Rafael Nadal swapped clay for grass on Wednesday, but the result was just as emphatic with the world No. 1 overpowering Australia’s Matthew Ebden at the Queen’s Club championships on a chilly evening in west London.
The reigning Wimbledon champion, fresh from his record-equaling sixth French Open title, beat gallant qualifier Ebden 6-4, 6-4 to move into the third round after Britain’s Andy Murray, the second seed, won a three-setter with Xavier Malisse.
Top seed Nadal, who passed the time with some table soccer in the players’ lounge as rain delayed his opening singles match, unleashed some trademark forehand firepower on the 168th-ranked Ebden, who provided an ideal test.
Just five days after losing to Nadal in the French Open semi-finals on clay, Britain’s world No. 4 Murray made a stuttering start, beating Belgian Malisse 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a match played in two chunks either side of a lengthy rain break.
Second seed Murray, the 2009 champion at the most traditional of English venues, lost his way at the end of the second set, but hit back to reach the third round.
He raced into a 3-0 lead, but his progress was slowed by a downpour that sent fans scuttling off to the Pimms stands dotted around the grounds, and when action resumed, Malisse played his part in some eye-catching rallies.
Murray survived two break points immediately after the restart before closing out the first set from the baseline.
He seemed poised for a straight-sets win when he had three break points at 5-5 in the second set but Malisse survived and then capitalised on some loose Murray forehands in the next game to take the match into a decider.
With dark clouds hovering, Murray broke the Malisse serve in the third game of the second set thanks to a wayward forehand from the ponytailed Belgian and sealed victory when his opponent dribbled a sliced backhand into the net.
Murray faces Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the third round.
HALLE OPEN
AFP, HALLE, GERMANY
Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt had few problems booking his place in the second round at Halle’s ATP grass-court -tournament on Wednesday with an easy win over lucky loser Leonardo Mayer.
Hewitt had been due to face French Open finalist Roger Federer in the first-round match — a repeat of last year’s final — but the Swiss star’s withdrawal on Monday saw Mayer promoted to the main draw.
The Australian eased to a 6-2, 6-3 win and he needed just over an hour, blasting down six aces — four of which came in the first set — and was rarely troubled by the Argentinian, ranked 206 in the world.
After Federer’s withdrawal, Czech Tomas Berdych, the 2007 Halle winner and Wimbledon finalist last year, is now the top seed and he faces Viktor Troicki of -Serbia in the quarter-finals following his 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) second-round win over compatriot Jan Hernych.
Troicki set up the third-round clash with Berdych when he beat Russia’s Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-1 in straight sets in just 52 minutes.
Canada’s rising star Milos Raonic, 20, who reached the last 16 at the Australian Open in January, also sealed his place in the last eight with a straight-sets win over Germany’s Tobias Kamke.
Raonic hit 14 aces in the 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 win which took 71 minutes.
He will now face Philipp Petzschner in the last eight following the German’s 6-2, 6-4 second-round win over Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
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