Tennis/Rome Masters: Rafael Nadal began his Rome Masters defence yesterday by coming through a tricky first-round match against the former world number one Carlos Moya 6-1, 2-6, 6-2.
The second seed from Spain led a trio of top players into the second round. Fourth seed David Nalbandian beat qualifier Fernando Vicente 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, fifth seed Andy Roddick brushed aside Victor Hanescu 6-1, 6-0 and Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Boris Pashanski.
Most of the attention, however, was focused on 19-year-old Nadal, who will equal Guillermo Vilas's 1977 record of 53 consecutive wins on clay if he successfully defends his title this week.
Having taken advantage of an error-strewn start by his compatriot, the French Open champion was forced to dig in when Moya found the range on his groundstrokes to level at one set all.
Moya cracked early in the decider, putting one forehand into the tramlines, then blasting another over the baseline to drop serve in his first service game and gift Nadal the lead he needed to serve out and win.
"I think that was one of the toughest first-round draws I could have got," said Nadal, who next faces the winner of the later match between Filippo Volandri and Andy Murray. Asked whether he would face a tougher test before the final, Nadal replied: "We are only at the second round. I can't think any further forward than that."
Nadal's refusal to look too far ahead is wise. In recent years Rome has proved a graveyard for its reigning champion, who has progressed beyond the second round just once since 1997.
The man Nadal beat in last year's final, Guillermo Coria, made a speedy exit. The ninth seed's erratic early-season form showed no sign of lifting as he lost 6-3, 6-2 to Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. He was followed out of the tournament by another Argentine claycourt specialist, the 2004 French Open champion, Gaston Gaudio. He went down 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 against Belgium's Xavier Malisse.
Roddick has rarely produced his best on clay, but was delighted to set up a second-round clash with the unseeded Marcos Baghdatis, who beat him on the way to the final of this year's Australian Open.
Tim Henman reached the second round after defeating Alessio Di Mauro in straight sets.Henman, the British number three, was pushed all the way by his Italian opponent but saved his best for the big points in each set of his 7-5, 7-6, (7/2) win.
ITALIAN MASTERS: First round: T Berdych (Cze) bt P Srichaphan (Tha) 6-1 6-3, (14) R Stepanek (Cze) bt F Lopez (Spa) 6-4 6-4, R Ramirez Hidalgo (Spa) bt (9) G Coria (Arg) 6-3 6-2, T Henman (Brit) bt A Di Mauro (Ita) 7-5 7-6 (7-2), X Malisse (Bel) bt (8) G Gaudio (Arg) 4-6 6-3 6-3, (6) N Davydenko (Rus) bt B Pashanski (Ser) 6-1 6-4, J Nieminen (Fin) bt S Grosjean (Fra) 6-2 6-1, M Baghdatis (Cyp) bt O Rochus (Bel) 7-5 6-4, P-H Mathieu (Fra) bt J C Ferrero (Spa) 6-1 6-3, (2) R Nadal (Spa) bt C Moya (Spa) 6-1 2-6 6-2, (4) D Nalbandian (Arg) bt F Vicente (Spa) 6-2 3-6 6-3.
