• BNP Paribas Open

Nadal seals comfortable comeback win

Nikolay Davydenko held his nerve at Indian Wells © Getty Images

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Reigning champion Rafael Nadal made short work of Rainer Schuettler at the BNP Paribas Open, breezing past his opponent 6-4 6-4 to move into the third round.

World No. 4 Nadal, playing in his first tournament match since retiring from the Australian Open in January at the quarter-final stage due to injury, will next face Mario Ancic.

Afterwards, the Spaniard was delighted with the victory: "It was a good start in the [blustery] conditions for me and I'm very happy. It was difficult to adapt but I started the match playing well," he said.

Ancic's fellow Croatian Marin Cilic was the shock second-round casualty, exiting the tournament with a whimper as he lost 6-7 0-6 to world No. 49 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

In a rematch of the 2008 final, Novak Djokovic defeated Mardy Fish 6-1 0-6 6-2 in a tumultuous affair. The world No. 2 seemed to be heading towards comfortable progress at Indian Wells, before a calamitous second-set collapse that he atoned for in a dominant third. Djokovic will next face Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Nikolay Davydenko made a convincing start to his campaign, seeing off the emerging talent of Ernests Gulbis in straight sets.

Davydenko could barely have been dealt a tougher draw following a bye in the first round, but he knuckled down to grind out a 6-4 6-4 victory. Three times the Russian broke Gulbis, who recently penetrated the world's top 50.

Davydenko was made to work hard for the first set against an opponent in Gulbis whose confidence has never been higher since he recently won his maiden ATP Tour title at Delray Beach. Only four break points were created by either player in a tight opening set, three for Davydenko and one for Gulbis, and it was the Russian who crucially closed out the only break of serve to take the set 6-4.

With nothing to chose between the two serves, it was Davydenko's superior variety from the baseline that made the difference in the match, mixing drop shots with clever angles to keep Gulbis off balance. At 2-2 in the second set, Davydenko forced his second break of the match, and he quickly followed it up with another to take him to the verge of victory at 5-2.

A brief stutter saw Gulbis grab one of those breaks back to close to 5-4, but Davydenko's questionable nerve held as he sealed the victory.

Davydenko's next opponent Viktor Troicki will be nicely rested having reached round three after playing just one game. No. 29 seed Troicki received a bye in the first round, and then played just a solitary game before second round opponent Pablo Cuevas was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Elsewhere, Fernando Verdasco made light work of Ramon Delgado, triumphing 6-4 6-1, while qualifier Brian Dabul of Argentina shocked No. 16 seed Gilles Simon 7-5 6-4.

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