BASEL: Rafa Nadal did not appear to be affected by his appendicitis problems as he charged into the second round of the Swiss Indoors with a no nonsense 6-2, 6-2 win over Simone Bolelli on Monday.

The Spanish second seed has been taking antibiotics to delay the need for surgery and was relieved to emerge unscathed from his match against his Italian opponent.

“I had some doubts that I would be able to compete well,” the former world number one told reporters.

“Today was a very positive victory for me. I’m very happy for what happened. With my summer-long wrist injury and now the appendix, it’s not been a great season. This was a dangerous match for me and I won it.”

He next plays France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who defeated another Frenchman Eduard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3).

American Donald Young defeated Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to end his three-match losing run while seventh-seeded Belgian David Goffin defeated Dominic Thiem of Austria 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in Monday’s late match.

LU DOWNS GARCIA-LOPEZ IN VALENCIA

VALENCIA: Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan eased to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round of the Valencia Open on Monday.

Lu earned his 24th win of the season while Garcia-Lopez lost his fifth straight match on the ATP tour.

Spanish wild-card entry Pablo Carreno Busta also advanced when compatriot Marcel Granollers was forced to retire with a right leg injury when trailing 6-2, 3-1.

Martin Klizan of Slovakia beat Stefan Kozlov of the US 6-3, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014