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Big 4 cruise on at Shanghai Masters

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-14 07:58

Rafael Nadal of Spain serves during his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday. Nadal won 6-4, 6-4 and next faces Jurgen Melzer of Austria. [Photo/Agencies]

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray win second-round matches with ease

SHANGHAI - World No 1 and nine-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal began his Shanghai Rolex Masters quest safely, overcoming former top 10 player, Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday.

After claiming his seventh title of the year in Tokyo last Sunday, Nadal seemed in unstoppable form at the ATP top-class tournament. The top seed saved two crucial break points to win the first set and seized a second match point to seal the tussle in one hour, 35 minutes. He will now meet Austrian No 13 seed Jurgen Melzer in the third round.

"Every match is tough to play, especially the first of the big tours. Wawrinka is a good player for sure. So, it was a close battle with him today, but I won and that's enough," Nadal said after the match.

Before Nadal's victory, world No 2 Novak Djokovic continued his fine form by crushing Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3.

"He is a big server. He always relies on that part of his game. When he needed to, he served well. But I made a crucial break at the start of the first set and neutralized his serve, which helped a lot today," said Djokovic, who reached 50 victories for the season with today's win.

British world No 4 Andy Murray ended the run of promising youngster Bai Yan from the Chinese mainland. Bai, who upset Czech veteran Radek Stepanek on Tuesday, lost 6-2, 6-2.

Murray, who converted five of 13 break points to capture a berth in the third round, was happy with his performance.

"Yeah, it was good intensity. I moved well from the start of the match and hit the ball very clean. I served pretty well, fairly high percentage of first serves," he said.

"I knew little about him, but he's talented and fast. He also strikes well, solid first serves and topspin on his forehand. It was definitely a good first match for me," said the 23-year-old Scot, who improved to a 37-14 match record this season.

After moving indoors after persistent rain, world No 10 Andy Roddick had to withdraw from his second-round match against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez due to a right groin strain after leading 6-3, 2-1.

No 5 seed Swede Robin Soderling defeated Serbia's Davis Cup hero, Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to book a spot in the third round. Soderling converted two of eight break points.

Another rising ace, Wu Di from the Chinese mainland, was outclassed by Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-1, 6-4 in a "Straits derby" which ended his debut in the main draw of a top-flight ATP tour event.

"I was not fully prepared to win the game. Lu is very steady and makes few errors. I wasn't accustomed to him and I am not satisfied with the game. I think there is still some room for me to improve." Wu said.

In the late featured match of day, world No 3 Roger Federer of Switzerland also booked a place in the third round by defeating American John Isner 6-3, 6-4.

China Daily