• ATP Tour

Nadal takes it easy to see off Ebden

June 8, 2011

ATP Tour seedings

Rafael Nadal overcame some unfamiliarity with the balls and a hangover from his French Open success to ease into the next round of the AEGON Championships against Matthew Ebden.

The Spaniard did not seem to be firing on all cylinders - perhaps understandably after his exertions at Roland Garros last week - and did not seem to chase around the court with his usual unrelenting vigour.

A change from the Babolat balls used in France also seemed to have some effect on his serve, with a few double faults on display, but he nevertheless had too much for the world No. 168, eventually winning 6-4 6-4.

"I feel a little tired. I had a tough French Open," Nadal said. "It's never easy at the start of the grass court season.

"Everything is completely different, and you don't have a lot of days to adapt to the different surface.

"It's not enough, but I've progressed. I am a little bit tired because I had a tough Roland Garros and clay-court season but I am here to try my best like always."

Ebden had his moments - moving close to break opportunities on a number of occasions, although only managing to create one break point - but was unable to find a way past Nadal's defence as the world No. 1 cruised through.

Nadal will now face Radek Stepanek, who fought back after a shocking start to see off Ivan Ljubicic in three sets, 0-6 7-5 6-4.

The Czech was blown away from the off against the 16th seed, seeing the first set slip away while managing to win just a single point on the Croatian's service games. But he found his range in the second set - feasting on Ljubicic's second serve in particular - to clinch a vital late break, before taking one of three break points he created in the final stanza to see himself through to the next round.

Marin Cilic enjoyed his first taste of grass of the summer with a 6-4 6-4 win over Arnaud Clement. It was a far from vintage performance from the Croatian, but he stood strong at the vital moments to secure his place in the third round.

"It went well," Cilic told Eurosport. "In moments I played really well. Sometimes you are having to adjust to the grass, the different bounce, but I think in the key moments I played pretty well. It was a good match to play in."

Juan Martin del Potro was also simply relieved to get a grass court win under his belt, seeing off Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-4 6-4 in a little more than an hour.

Elsewhere, Janko Tipsarevic needed two tie-breaks to see off American Michael Russell 7-6(3) 7-6(5), while 15th seed Kevin Anderson saw off another American, Donald Young, 6-2 6-4. Eleventh seed Thomaz Bellucci had his hands full, however, needing three sets to eventually beat Marsel Ilhan 6-2 6-7(3) 7-6(5)

Meanwhile, at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, there were few surprises as the opening round got underway.

Leyton Hewitt wasted little time in disposing of Argentine Leonardo Mayer in the only first round match of the day - winning 6-2 6-3 - while all three seeds involved in early second round matches managed to progress.

Eighth seed Milos Raonic took a while to get into a rhythm but eventually saw off Tobias Kamke 7-6(2) 6-3, while fifth seed Viktor Troicki took out Igor Andreev 6-3 6-1.

Second seed Tomas Berdych received more of a scare than perhaps he was anticipating, however, as qualifier Jan Hernych nearly forced a third set decider but eventually succumbed to his fellow Czech 6-3 7-6(7).

German fans had something to cheer, as Philipp Petzschner made just one error of note in giving up a break on the way to a 6-2 6-4 success against Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

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