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Nadal eases to opening win on grass

Rafael Nadal got his Wimbledon preparations off to an excellent start with a straight-sets win over Marcos Daniel © Getty Images

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Newly-installed world No. 1 Rafael Nadal wasted no time re-acclimatising to grass-court tennis by thrashing Marcos Daniel 6-2 6-2 at the AEGON Championship.

The French Open winner, who was playing his first game on grass since the Wimbledon final of 2008, roared to his 13th straight win on the surface in a mere 52 minutes. After the match, Nadal moved to quell fears that he was suffering from burnout following a series of matches in quick succession; he has gone the distance in each of the last four tournaments he has played.

"The last few months have not been easy, playing so many matches," Nadal said. "I could probably do with a few days at home but you feel less tired when you are winning.

"The last few days weren't easy and it's never easy to adapt to this surface but I'm very happy to be back here, on the grass and at Queen's."

Fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez also progressed in comfortable fashion with a 6-2 6-4 win over Grigor Dimitrov. The two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist shone on serve as he powered down six aces, and backed that up with several tidy volleys to close points out.

Lopez will face No. 8 seed Julien Benneteau in the last 16. The Frenchman secured four separate breaks as he eased to a 7-5 6-3 success over Kevin Anderson.

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic was forced to save six break points during his second-round contest with Paolo Lorenzi as he battled to a 6-3 6-3 triumph. The Serb, who has struggled with his serve this season, found the going tough against his Italian opponent but always had the class on his backhand to deal with some vicious returns.

Belgium's Xavier Malisse will be Djokovic's next opponent after he overcame Bernard Tomic in a tense three-set thriller, eventually succeeding 6-2 3-6 6-2. Marin Cilic, who reached the quarter finals in 2007, had to fight back from a set down to seal his place in the next round. France's Nicolas Mahut nicked the first set in a tiebreak but faded as the match grew on, leaving Cilic free to complete a 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 victory.

No. 7 seed Sam Querrey came out on top in his all-American encounter with Robby Ginepri as he progressed with a 7-6(4) 6-2 win. Davis Cup compatriot Mardy Fish served 16 aces as took out Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 7-6(5) 6-2 to set up a last-16 clash with defending champion Andy Murray.

Elsewhere at the Queen's Club, there were wins for Michael Llodra, Denis Istomin and Marcel Granollers.

Meanwhile at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, four-time Queen's champion Lleyton Hewitt booked his place in the quarter finals with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Thiemo de Bakker. The eighth seed, who had hip surgery earlier in the year, lost just eight points on his serve despite being outserved by his opponent, who fired nine aces to Hewitt's three.

Hewitt will now meet Andreas Beck after he eliminated Nicolas Kiefer in an all-German battle. Kiefer served 16 aces in the match but could not find the groundstrokes required to pass his tall opponent as he slumped to a 6-2 3-6 7-6(4) defeat.

Philipp Petzschner continued his impressive grass-court form as he dumped out Serbia's Viktor Troicki 7-6(5) 6-3. Lukas Lacko recovered from a set down to beat Dominik Meffert 2-6 6-4 6-3.

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