Indian Wells winner Rafael Nadal continued his rebound with a 7-6(7), 6-2 win over Brazilian qualifier Ricardo Mello in second round play at the Sony Ericsson in Miami.
Nadal's title last Sunday at Indian Wells was his first since the French Open last year.
Mello stayed even with the World No. 2 in the second round match as both players held serve through the first set, but Nadal won the tie-break and firmly established control as he delivered the first break of the match to go up 2-1 in the second set. He broke Mello once more and closed out the victory in one hour and 46 minutes.
Nadal, who fell last year to compatriot Carlos Moya in his Miami opener, has now gone seven matches without dropping a set after winning his first Pacific Life Open title in decisive fashion.
"Well, the thing today is the wind," said Nadal. "It's very difficult to play on court today, a lot of wind. And the wind change all the time. It's not always in the same way. So was very, very difficult for me.
James Blake was as fortunate as the American's struggles continued with a 7-6(8), 2-6, 6-3 loss to Frenchman Florent Serra.
The eight-ranked Blake, who defeated Serra in the second round Indian Wells two weeks ago, has won just three of his past nine matches since reaching the Delray Beach final in early February.
"I'm just a little disappointed in the way I've played, but I have to be realistic in knowing that there's going to be times in my career where I don't play as well as I can," said Blake. "It's frustrating on the American hard courts where I usually have the best success, but there's always next year, there's always a next tournament luckily, and the next one [Davis Cup] is really important to me."
Fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez, who has reached semifinals in three of the four North American ATP Masters Series hard court events (Miami, Canada, Cincinnati), defeated 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 7-5, 6-3 to reach the third
Russian Mikhail Youzhny claimed his 10th win from his past 12 matches with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over countryman Teimuraz Gabashvili after converting all four break points he earned.
No. 12 seed Andy Murray earned his 20th victory of the season after defeating American Paul Goldstein 6-2, 7-6(4). The 19-year-old Scot was a semifinalist at Indian Wells.
Local favorite Andy Roddick rolled in his opener, crushing Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-3, 6-2 61 minutes.
No. 17 seed Marcos Baghdatis suffered his fourth straight loss with a second-round upset at the hands of rising 18-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0.
A pair of seeded Russians bowed out to qualifiers Friday. Italian Simone Bolelli ousted Dmitry Tursunov, breaking the No. 21 seed in the final game of the match to move onto the third round with a 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-4 victory. Meanwhile, Spaniard Feliciano Lopez defeated former World No.1 Marat Safin for the fourth time in five career meetings by posting the 7-5, 7-6(2) win.
World No. 1 Roger Federer retuns to action tonight against American teen Sam Querrey.
Quick Links
