World No. 1 Rafael Nadal came out flying in his opening match at the BNP Paribas Open, dominating German Michael Berrer 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The 22-year-old Spaniard dropped just five points on serve during the 67-minute match and won five of his 14 break point chances to advance to the third round at the year’s first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament.
Nadal has advanced to the semifinals or better the past three years in Indian Wells, and is attempting to reclaim the BNP Paribas Open title after falling to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the 2008 semifinals.
The reigning Australian Open champion will next face No. 26 seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, who survived a three-set challenge from American qualifier Michael Russell 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3. Nadal has won the only previous meeting between to two players, last year at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam.
American wild card John Isner proved responsible for the biggest second-round upset of the 2009 BNP Paribas Open after he ousted World No. 9 Gael Monfils of France. The 147th-ranked Isner did not face any break points on serve, and broke Monfils three times in the one hour, 58 minute match to advance to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open for the first time.
Another American wild card, Ryan Sweeting, tested World No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro before falling 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1 in two hours and 14 minutes. Del Potro, who has won five ATP World Tour titles since last July, is playing in Indian Wells for the first time since a second-round exit on his debut two years ago. He will face 30th-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over American Taylor Dent.
In other matches, No. 14 seed David Nalbandian of Argentina defeated American Robert Kendrick 6-4, 6-4 and next faces unseeded Serbian Viktor Troicki. Troicki, who began the week at a career-high ranking of No. 41, ousted Czech No. 21 seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-1.
Meanwhile, former World No. 1 Marat Safin joined sister Dinara Safina as straight-sets winners Sunday as he closed out a 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Nicolas Massu in one hour and 42 minutes. Safin is making his 11th straight appearance at the BNP Paribas Open, with his best result a fourth round run in 2006 (l. to Niemenen).
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2599.asp)
