LONDON: Top-ranked Rafael Nadal made a winning return at the ATP World Tour Finals, cruising past fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday in his first round-robin match.
Playing for the first time in two years at the season-ending tournament, Nadal traded breaks early in the match.
Then his serve improved and he dictated play from the baseline and forced the third-ranked Ferrer into numerous errors. Nadal converted six of seven break points.
Nadal is bidding to win the elite event for the first time. He’ll maintain the year-end No. 1 spot if he wins a second match at O2 Arena.
He claimed his 21st win in 26 matches against Ferrer – but only his first indoors – and avenged his loss in their Paris Masters semifinal last week.
”He played a lot better than me in Paris, but today I played a little bit better than him and it’s important for my confidence to start with a victory after Paris,” Nadal said ”There is no rest, but the energy of this stadium is fantastic.”
Nadal and Ferrer play in Group A, alongside Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Tomas Berdych in his opening match on Monday. No. 2 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who were scheduled to play later on Tuesday, are in Group B with Juan Martin del Potro and Richard Gasquet.
Del Potro got past Gasquet to win his opening round-robin match late on Monday (early Tuesday, India time).
Del Potro beat Gasquet 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5 to secure crucial points.
After the round-robin stage, the top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals.
Playing in the tournament for the first time since 2007, Gasquet produced some stunning shots but struggled to return del Potro’s big serve in a match laced with unforced errors and winners from both sides.
Gasquet said he was disappointed by the result, his sixth loss in seven matches against Del Potro, but took some comfort in the way he lost.
”The level is very high. So every match is a final for me,” Gasquet said. ”Tonight I played well, I was really close.”
Del Potro, who hit 35 winners and made 40 unforced errors, was relieved to come out on top ahead of two difficult matches.
”This tournament means a lot to me,” he said. ”In the end, I played solid and I won. Hopefully I can beat (Djokovic and Federer), but it’s going to be really tough for me. I don’t have anything to lose against them.”
Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek made a stupendous start to their campaign in the doubles as they shocked second seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares in a closely-fought Group B match.
The seventh-seeded Paes and Stepanek pair beat the Austria-Brazilian combination 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in one hour and 42 minutes.
Before prevailing in the Super Tie breaker, Paes and Stepanek overcame some anxious moments towards the end as their rivals fought hard.
Paes and Stepanek served well throughout but it was in the 12th game of the second set, when the Indian was broken after serving for the match at 40-15 up, that made the match a more thrilling contest by forcing the match tie-breaker.
In all, the eventual winners had four match points, which were all denied by their opponents.
Before that they had four chances to break their rivals but Peya and Soares saved all of them.
The Indo-Czech pair are now second in the four-team Group B, behind the Spanish combination of David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco. (PTI)