Nadal Untroubled In Opener; Tsonga Powers Past Querrey

© Getty ImagesJo-Wilfried Tsonga finished strongly to dispatch Sam Querrey.

ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal was impressive in his opening match at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, dismissing Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 Wednesday to reach the third round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament.

The Spaniard, who finished runner-up to Nikolay Davydenko in the final last year, improved to a 7-0 record against Wawrinka as he broke serve once in each set to secure victory in one hour and 35 minutes.

"It is a very good result," said Nadal. "Wawrinka is a very good player and is very difficult to have a victory today in straight sets. I am happy for that. For sure, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't one of these very, very difficult days."

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The 24-year-old Nadal is bidding for back-to-back titles in Asia after winning his ATP World Tour-best seventh trophy of the season last week in Tokyo (d. Monfils). The Mallorcan won a record-breaking 18th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Madrid in May and will look to add to his tally this week at the eighth Masters 1000 event of the season.

Nadal next will face No. 13 seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who withstood 10 aces from the racquet of Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver for a 6-3, 7-6(2) win in 79 minutes.

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French No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga kept alive his outside hopes of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, where Nadal is already confirmed to appear, by finishing strongly to dispatch American Sam Querrey 7-6(7), 6-1. Tsonga, who began the week at No. 14 in the year-to-date ATP Rankings, added 45 points to his tally.

The 25-year-old Tsonga is playing just his second tournament after being sidelined since reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals (l. to Murray) with a left-knee injury. After missing the North American hard-court season, he made his comeback last week in Tokyo, where he fell in the first round to Jarkko Nieminen.

Next up for Tsonga will be German Florian Mayer, who ousted Russian No. 8 seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 in a result that dealt a heavy blow to the Kuala Lumpur champion’s chances of qualifying for the season finale in London.

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