BEIJING: Rafael Nadal enjoyed an emphatic return to singles action as he powered past Richard Gasquet at the China Open here on Tuesday, while world number one Novak Djokovic overcame a sluggish start to continue his perfect run in Beijing.

Spanish world number two Nadal, playing his first singles match in three months due to a wrist injury, extended his record to 13-0 against the Frenchman with a brisk 6-4, 6-0 win after Djokovic had beaten Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-1.

Briton Andy Murray also maintained his good form in China but was made to dig deep before grinding out a 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in a night match.

An early break for Nadal in the third game put him on course for the first set but only after the left hander saved a break point with an ace when trying to serve it out.

A dejected Gasquet was then broken in the opening game of the second set as Nadal’s confidence soared, the Spaniard pummelling some trademark forehand winners as he wrapped up the first-round win with a 27th fizzing winner.

Nadal’s last match before Beijing was a last-16 defeat to Australian Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon.

Djokovic had less time away than Nadal but showed more rust in his first appearance on the ATP Tour since losing to Kei Nishikori in the US Open semi-finals this month.

The world number one traded five breaks of serve in the opening six games against Garcia-Lopez before Djokovic took a grasp of the match by holding for only the second time to lead 5-2.

He then broke Garcia-Lopez for a fourth time to seal the set with the Spaniard his own worst enemy, landing only 38 per cent of his first serves.

The Serb looked more assured in the second set as he dropped just 14 points to take it 6-1 and make it a perfect 20 wins and no losses on Beijing’s blue courts as he bids for a fifth title here.

Murray, seeded six, won the Shenzhen Open on Sunday in his quest to book one of the eight spots at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London and needs a similarly strong week to help him climb up from 10th in the standings.

Facing off against the big-serving Pole, a man he beat in the semi-finals on his way to winning last year’s Wimbledon title, Murray was broken in his first three service games before he finally found his form.

Trailing 5-1, the Scot battled back to force a tiebreak but both players continued to struggle with their serves and wasted two set points apiece before the Pole finally claimed the opener 11-9.

Murray shook off the disappointment of losing that set and did not lose his serve again, breaking once in the second and twice in the third to set up a second-round match against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas.

Third seed Tomas Berdych also dropped just three games in a first-round win as the Czech downed Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-2.

WAWRINKA, TSONGA HUMBLED

TOKYO: Tatsuma Ito and Michal Przysiezny claimed the biggest wins of their careers at the Japan Open on Tuesday when the local wildcard knocked out top seed Stan Wawrinka and the Polish qualifier saved match points to beat Jo- Wilfried Tsonga.

World number 103 Ito sealed the stunning 7-5, 6-2 first-round victory on his second match point, cushioning a backhand volley into an open court after his wide serve had forced Wawrinka out of position.

Tsonga also looked like retiring when he called for the trainer because of a issue with his right wrist when trailing 3-0 in the deciding set against his 142nd-ranked Polish opponent.

The break did the 2009 champion good, though, as he clawed back the deficit and forced a tiebreak but the Frenchman wasted three match points as Przysiezny hung tough to record a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(9) upset win at the Ariake Coliseum.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2014