15 March 2010 / REUTERS, INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.
Twice champion and holder Rafa Nadal of Spain eased into the third round of the Indian Wells ATP tournament with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory over Germany’s Rainer Schuettler.
Second-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic survived a lapse in the second set before he held off American Mardy Fish to record a topsy-turvy 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 win in the late match. Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko also advanced, beating Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4, but eighth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia made an early exit, losing 7-6, 6-0 to Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Nadal, champion at Indian Wells in 2007 and again last year, was next to meet Croatia’s Mario Ancic who came from a set down to beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. In other matches on Saturday, 10th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco eased past Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado 6-4, 6-1 while 11th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain hammered Austrian Daniel Koellerer 6-3, 6-0.
