• Shanghai Masters

Nadal breezes past Garcia-Lopez

Rafael Nadal cruised into round three with the minimum of fuss © PA Photos

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Rafael Nadal bounced back from his mauling by Andy Murray in Japan on Sunday by opening up his Shanghai Masters campaign with a convincing 6-3 6-2 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

The world No. 2 bumped into an inspired Murray in Tokyo, succumbing 6-0 in the final set, and said on Tuesday his form has dipped from the highs of 2010. But he also spoke of his determination to work hard in the final weeks of the season before an assault on the majors in 2012.

And if his performance against Garcia-Lopez is a guide, he would appear to be true to his word as he came out at a rate of knots and never took his foot off the accelerator.

The quick indoor surfaces are not to Nadal's liking and he was beaten by Garcia-Lopez in Bangkok last year, but he came out with intent and a whipped inside-out forehand for a clean winner in the first game suggested he was on form.

Garcia-Lopez saved break points in a 10-minute opening service game, but Nadal continued to probe from the back of the court and worked a break in the fourth game. The one break of serve was enough to take the opening set, as Nadal was rock solid on his own serve.

Nadal, who dropped just five points on serve in the first set, continued the assault at the start of the second and worked an early break, only to throw in a rare poor game as Garcia-Lopez broke back.

But he could not consolidate the break and Nadal quickly penetrated once more, crushing the spirit of his opponent. A string of errors flew off the Garcia-Lopez racket to hand Nadal a third break of serve in the set, allowing him to book a meeting with Florian Mayer in the third round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered a shock defeat to Kei Nishikori, who rallied from a break down in the third set to claim a 6-7(1) 6-4 6-4 win. Tsonga saved a match point at 4-5 with a 210kph ace. But Nishikora got a look at a second serve on his third match point and converted with a booming backhand to dent his French opponent's hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals.

"I have more points than all my opponents [in ATP Finals race]," Tsonga said "So, of course, for the moment I'm confident. I will take some rest and then I will come back to qualify."

The No. 3 seed David Ferrer showed his battling qualities as he came through in two tight sets to beat Milos Raonic 7-5 7-6(7). Ferrer will now face Juan Carlos Ferrero who dug deep to topple his fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, claiming a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win.

The No. 12 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov booked a third-round meeting with Bernard Tomic after coming from a set down to beat Albert Ramos 5-7 6-3 6-2.

Santiago Giraldo beat Jurgen Melzer 4-6 6-4 7-6(5) in a game that saw the two players exchange words at the end of the match, while Tomas Berdych beat his fellow Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-3 and his reward is a meeting with Feliciano Lopez who beat Alex Bogomolov Jnr in three sets.

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