Nadal sweeps through in India
Rafael Nadal makes a winning start to 2008
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Tuesday, 01, Jan 2008 10:17
World number two Rafael Nadal made an assured start to his Chennai Open campaign with a 6-2 6-4 win over Frenchman Mathieu Montcourt.
The Spaniard had to dig deep to see off his 22-year-old opponent in the final set after he lost his serve and was drawn into a series of lengthy baseline rallies in the closing stages.
"In the end I had to play better to finish the match. He fought a lot and I made some mistakes," said Nadal.
The number one seed will now face Rajeev Ram in the second round after the American overcame Yuri Schulkin in two tie-breakers.
Marco Bagdatis, the tournament's second seed, suffered an early exit after he crashed to a 6-3 6-4 loss to Robin Haase.
The Dutchman took advantage of Baghdatis' lack of match fitness to cruise to a confident win that will boost his current world ranking of 114.
A dogged last stand from Baghdatis saw him save five match points in the final game before eventually succumbing to Haase's powerful serve-volley game.
"I don't know what to say. I tried things that didn't work. He was serving very well, had nothing to lose and he was confident," admitted Baghdatis.