Rafael Nadal, the new world number one, cruised into the third round of the Aegon Championship at Queen's Club in London with a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win over Marcos Daniel of Brazil on Wednesday (9th June).
The win saw Nadal extend his unbeaten run on grass to 13 matches as he attempts to reclaim the Queen's title that he won in 2008, after a knee injury prevented him from defending his crown in 2009.
Elsewhere, world number three Novak Djokovic progressed with a straight sets win over Italian Paolo Lorenzi and Croatian Marin Cilic overcame a spirited performance from Nicolas Mahut of France.
Showers interrupted play once more at Queen's Club on Wednesday as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were amongst the players bidding to get their grass court seasons underway.
Fresh from regaining his French Open title at Roland Garros on Sunday with a superb straight sets win over Robin Soderling, Rafael Nadal stepped onto court at Queen's to start his bid to reclaim the title he won in 2008.
Knee problems prevented the Spaniard from defending his title in 2009 and the world number one faced Brazilian Marcos Daniel in his opening match.
Nadal swept to a 3-0 first set lead within eight minutes, taking little time to get into his stride on the new surface. Dictating play from the baseline, Daniel was clearly out of his depth as he struggled to keep pace with the power of his illustrious opponent.
The world number one took the first set 6-2 before cruising through the second in similar fashion, a clinical forehand return closing out the routine 6-2 6-2 victory to set up a meeting with Denis Istomin in the next round.
Nadal was clearly pleased with his performance. "Well thanks a lot. Sure it is always a pleasure to be back on grass. I love to play on this surface and sure it is good to win the first match here after the final of Roland Garros. You only have one day to adapt so it's always a very dangerous margin and I'm happy to be in the second round", says Nadal.
World number three and Paris quarter-finalist Novak Djokovic faced Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the next match on court.
The Serb sat through several frustrating rain delays before dispatching Lorenzi 6-3 6-3 with a strong performance which included saving all six of the break points that he faced as his powerful array of winners proved too much for his opponent.
He will now face Belgium's Xavier Malisse after he battled to a 6-2 3-6 6-2 victory over Bernard Tomic of Australia.
Fifth seed Marin Cilic then faced Nicolas Mahut of France on court. Mahut had the better of the opening exchanges, snatching the first set during a tie break after both players had struggled to seize the initiative.
Despite that, there were some early glimpses of Cilic's abilities - a sublime lob over Mahut that clipped the baseline on landing in the 11th game - and he soon stepped up the pace as the second set got underway.
He duly broke Mahut in the sixth game of that set to take a decisive 4-2 lead and levelled the match in taking the set 6-3, before dominating the decider to ensure that he would progress to the next round. AP
