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| March 12, 2007 | Monday | Safar 22, 1428 |
Impressive Nadal moves ahead at Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS (California), March 11: Spanish dynamo Rafael Nadal put on an impressive display at the ATP/WTA Pacific Life Open on Saturday with a typical swashbuckling second-round victory.
The 20-year-old second seed signalled his intentions to challenge World No 1 Roger Federer for the title, using a precision forehand and steady serve to overpower Arnaud Clement 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in their second-round match at the hardcourt tournament in the California desert.
The two-time French Open champ Nadal is considered one of three or four players here who have a chance at halting the Swiss superstar's 41-match win streak.
Federer was due to open his campaign on Sunday against Argentina's Guillermo Canas.
Also through to the next round was 1998 Roland Garros champ Carlos Moya, hard-serving American Andy Roddick and Richard Gasquet, of France, who won the battle of the youngsters over Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro.
In the women's tournament Russian top seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova (No 2), Nadia Petrova (No 4) and Dinara Safina (No 9) all moved through to the third round.
Nadal improved to 3-1 lifetime over France's Clement. His next match will be against countryman Fernando Verdasco who defeated Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Nadal hit 31 winners and served 58 percent in the one hour, 44 minute match on the main stadium at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Nadal is off to a 10-4 start this year and is seeking his first tournament win since capturing the French Open last year.
His best result in Indian Wells is a semi-final berth last year where he lost to eventual runner-up James Blake.
Roddick won the battle of the big servers, defeating Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in a night match.
The 24-year-old Roddick had more aces (15-12) than Lopez and won 84 percent of her first serve points.
Argentina's Canas is back making waves again after being persona non grata on the ATP Tour for 15 months while serving a drugs suspension.
The 29-year-old Canas, who last month won his first tournament in three years, easily beat Czech Jan Hajek 6-1, 6-1 in a first round match on Saturday.
Up next for Canas is Federer who is chasing history in Indian Wells. If Federer wins the tournament he would break Guillermo Vilas' 30-year-old streak of 46 consecutive wins set in 1977.
As the top seed Federer received a bye through the first round. He and Canas will square off in the third match on the main stadium.
Women's top seed Maria Sharapova also takes the court on Sunday against France's Nathalie Dechy. Sharapova is looking for a better performance than her first match when she struggled to win in two sets.
Saturday’s results:
Men’s singles:
Second round: 22-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-0, 6-2; 3-Andy Roddick (US) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4; 15-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; 33-Olivier Rochus (Belgium) beat Vince Spadea (US) 6-1, 6-4; 32-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Andreas Seppi (Italy) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; 18-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Paul Goldstein (US) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Arnaud Clement (France) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Jose Acasuso (Argentina) beat 16-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 7-6 (11-9), 6-4.
First round: Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7); Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) beat Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 6-4, 6-2; Sam Querrey (US) beat Christophe Rochus (Belgium) 6-2, 6-4; Luis Horna (Peru) beat Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2; Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Paul Capdeville (Chile) 6-4, 6-4; Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) beat Tim Henman (Britain) 7-5,
3-6, 7-5; Alejandro Falla (Colombia) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Jan Hajek (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-1.
Women’s singles:
Second round: 6-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat Bethanie Mattek (US) 6-4, 6-1; Ahsha Rolle (U.S.) beat 29-Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4; 13-Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-0, 7-5; 2-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Romina Oprandi (Italy) 7-5, 6-3; 9-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; 30-Peng Shuai (China) beat Vasilisa Bardina (Russia) 6-2, 6-0; 17-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-1, 6-2; 21-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-3, 6-4; Alicia Molik (Australia) beat 24-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; 4-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-3, 6-4; Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat 26-Olga Poutchkova (Russia) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; 16-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Yuan Meng (China) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); Laura Granville (US) beat 27-Severine Bremond (France) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); 20-Tathiana Garbin (Italy) beat Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic) 7-5, 6-2; 10-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Vania King (US) 6-3, 6-0; 33-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat Anastassia Rodionova (Russia) 6-1, 6-0.—Agencies
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