Nadal regales Queen; Russians go

MADRID – Rafael Nadal made just three unforced errors in front of Spain’s Queen Sofia as he dispatched Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 6-3, 6-1, in his opening match of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.

The world No. 1’s concentration was broken only by a ball girl who fainted in the second set and had to be carried off center court.

Nadal won the tournament in 2005 when it was indoors on hard-court, and was gunning for a first title since the tournament switched to his favored clay this year. After winning his 31st consecutive match on clay since last May, he said he liked the extra pace on the dirt from playing at 600 meters above sea level.

“It’s more difficult to play here than on normal altitude surfaces,” Nadal said. “You can do more with the ball with less effort, but your opponent also does it back to you as easily.”

Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Roddick and Gilles Simon also were winners after first-round byes.

But there were upsets aplenty on the women’s side, with exits for three leading Russians, No. 3-seeded Elena Dementieva, No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 8 Nadia Petrova. But Dinara Safina, their top-ranked compatriot, advanced.

Djokovic, coming off winning his hometown Serbia Open title on Sunday, eased past Oscar Hernandez of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, despite falling awkwardly on his right knee early in the second set.

“I was aware the court was quite wet because I saw they had watered it after the previous match. But I was lucky that I fell in a good way so there is no injury,” Djokovic said. “It looked easy, but it wasn’t. I played just well enough to win.”         

Djokovic fell in the rankings this week from third to fourth despite winning his country’s first ever ATP Tour event which he also helped organize. Andy Murray surpassed him in the world rankings. (AP)