Rafael Nadal looked good, not great, in his hardcourt debut while the American youngsters crashed out.

Rafael Nadal makes his return to hardcourts Saturday at Indian Wells while Roger Federer opens his title defense.

On the women’s side in first-round action the notable winners were American Jamie Hampton topping countrywoman (WC) Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1 in the third, American (WC) Madison Keys outlasting countrywoman Melanie Oudin in three, and American (WC) Taylor Townsend getting her first WTA win, beating Lucie Hradecka from a set down.

Notes: Six Top 10 players, a boatload of dangerous floaters, and some tough openers for seeds (1) Djokovic vs. Serbian countryman Troicki, (7) Seppi vs. Mathieu, (4) Del Potro vs. Baghdatis, (5) Tsonga vs. net-rushing countryman Llodra, and (6) Tipsarevic vs. Daydenko…Easy start for (2) Federer against Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri, then the winner of Al Montanes-Marcel Granollers before then likely facing either (6) Tipsy, Davydenko or Tomic…Sterling records for seeds Djokovic (23-3) and Federer (34-4) in Dubai, not so much for Tipsarevic (4-5) and Seppi (0-5)…Federer beat the absent Andy Murray in last year’s final…Returning champs in the field are Federer (2012,’07,’05-03) and Djokovic (2011-09).

Men’s Notes: Among the seeds, Cilic makes his Memphis debut, and Nishikori and Verdasco have losing records at the event…wildcards went to Steve Johnson, James Blake, and Jack Sock (who starts against (2) Raonic)…Not a lot of floaters in the field, but (1) Cilic could face defending champ Melzer in the 2nd rd…Nine ATP No. 1s have won the Memphis title over the years…Notable pulls from the field are Kevin Anderson (elbow), Brian Baker (knee), and Mardy Fish (heart issue)…Bryan brothers are the top doubles seeds…Joining Melzer among the returning champs are Querrey (2010) and Haas (2007-06,’99).

Former world No. 1 Roger Federer does his annual skip-and-defend (skip the first round, hope your team wins), and now will have to play to keep Switzerland from falling out of the World Group later this year. Swiss Stan Wawrinka won the opening singles against Lukas Rosol, but it was all Czech from then on as Tomas Berdych took control of the tie, winning his first singles over Swiss Henri Laaksonen (?!?), the doubles with Rosol over Wawrinka-Marcos Chiudinelli 24-22 in the fifth set, then his second singles over Wawrinka in four sets. Thanks Rog, from the Swiss team, and the Czech team. The Czechs will next travel to Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals.

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic leads his Serbian team into Belgium this weekend for the first round of Davis Cup.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Tomic said. “Now that I know what it feels like to win a tournament and it’s the best feeling in the world. I’m so happy I won. To do it here in Sydney is awesome. I can’t ask for anything better. I’m so proud of myself. Can’t stop here now. Now I’ve got to look to the next tournament and keep playing the tennis I’ve been playing.”

David Ferrer is already into his second semifinal of the young 2013 season while Bernard Tomic stays hot in Sydney.

American women continue their surge during week two of the tennis season, while Bernard Tomic wins and Grigor Dimitrov falls.