Rafael Nadal stepped up the fight to hold onto his number two ranking in the face of a 2012 trophy charge from Roger Federer, with the Spaniard starting the Miami Masters on Friday with 6—2, 6—0 defeat of Santiago Giraldo.
Nadal needs to outpace his third—ranked Swiss rival this week after going down to the on—fire Federer in the Indian Wells quarters last weekend as Federer won his third title of the season.
Nadal, whose last trophy came at the French Open in nine months ago, won fir the fifth time over Colombian Giraldo without a loss in the series.
Fourth seed Andy Murray buried his embarrassment a year after badly losing an opening match, with the fourth seed all business in his 6—2, 6—3 defeat of Alejandro Falla to reach the third round.
Murray, also beaten in his opener just over a week ago at Indian Wells by Guillermo Garcia—Lopez, made sure lightning didn’t strike twice in his 76—minute win over Colombian Falla ranked 71st. A year ago, Murray went out to Alex Bogomolov to exit in the Miami second round.
“That’s kind of behind me now,” said the Scot, trained by Florida—based former great Ivan Lendl. “I’ve always enjoyed playing this tournament, I’ve just struggled a bit in the last couple years here.
Sixth seed Jo—Wilfried Tsonga started his campaign as he outplayed Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 7—5, 7—5 while number seven Tomas Berdych beat Nicolas Mahut 7—5, 6—1. Serb ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic dismissed Argentine David Nalbandian 7—5, 6—3.
Indian Wells finalist John Isner, the number 10, started with a win over Nikolay Davydenko 2—6, 6—3, 6—4.
In women’s play, Victoria Azarenka stretched her 2012 win streak to 24 matches as Venus Williams score an upset of fellow Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova to reach the third round.
Top seed Azarenka advanced over Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6—3, 7—5. Williams, still suffering with an immune system disorder which produces fatigue and has kept her off court since the US Open six months ago, made a statement with her 6—4, 4—6, 6—0 ouster of third seed Kvitova.
Azarenka is making the kind of start which Novak Djokovic had in 2011 on the way to ten titles last season.
“It’s a great honour to be compared to a champion like Novak, bit I’ll just leave it at that and try to make my own way. I’m not really thinking about numbers, the streaks.
“I just try to, you know, stay focused every day and try to be the best player as I can be on every single match, every single practise.
That’s what is the most important for me, to keep the motivation, to keep determination to improve.” Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska earned a routine win over American Madison Keys 6—1, 6—1; French seventh seed Marion Bartoli, ill last week in California, came back against Polona Hercog 5—7, 6—2, 6—1.
There were a pair of upsets: Spain’s unknown Garbine Muguruza Blanco, Spain out ninth seed Vera Zvonareva 6—4, 6—3 while Kazak Ksenia Pervak eliminated 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone 6—4, 4—6, 7—5.
Serb former number one Ana Ivanovic showed recovery after a hip injury in her Indian Wells semi—final last week.
The 15th seed and 2008 champion beat American Vania King 6—4, 7—5 to reach the third round. Slovak 16th seed Dominika Cibulkova advanced over Russian Anna Tatishvili 7—5, 6—1.
Ivanovic said she is fine after her recent injury scare. “It was nothing major, some micro tears, nothing big that MRI could pick up, which was really good. I still took about three days off and was just playing very little last few days.
