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Nadal wins in hard-court return

Indian Wells - Rafael Nadal made a triumphant return to hard-court tennis, booking his third-round berth at Indian Wells with a straight-sets victory over American Ryan Harrison.

Seeded only fifth in a tournament he won in 2007 and 2009, Nadal was nevertheless squarely in the spotlight as he played his first hard-court match in 346 days.

After a few tense moments in the opening set, he came through with flying colours, beating 73rd-ranked American Harrison 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in one hour and 33 minutes.

Nadal was sidelined for seven months recovering from a left knee injury. He returned in February with three clay-court tournaments in Latin America.

The former world No. 1 got his comeback off to a blazing start on clay, with one runner-up finish and two titles.

But he said his knee still wasn't 100 percent, and he wasn't sure if he'd put it to the test on the punishing US hard courts.

"I didn't know if I was going to be able to come here two weeks ago," Nadal said. "I'm very happy to be back here."

Nadal jumped to a 4-1 lead against Harrison, but the American regained a break in the seventh game and went on to level the first set at 4-4.

After two tight games, Nadal was clearly delighted to have saved a break point and hold for a 6-5 lead.

Harrison duly held serve to force the tiebreaker, but his forehand error gave Nadal a 2-1 advantage, which the Spaniard stretched to 4-1 with a service winner followed by a crisp volley winner.

A double fault on his first set point slowed him slightly, but he then sealed the set with a forehand winner.

He broke Harrison twice en route to a 4-1 lead in the second, and this time the American couldn't get back on terms.

Nadal closed it out with a love game, punctuating the victory with an overhead winner.

Nadal moved closer to a projected quarter-final match-up with old foe Roger Federer.

Federer, the defending champion, cruised into the third round with quick 6-2, 6-3 victory over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

"It felt good from the start and I was able to maintain that level of play," said Federer, who didn't face a break point in the 57-minute match. "I never thought he got into the match at all. That gives you even more confidence."

Federer, seeded second behind world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, is seeking a first tournament triumph of 2013 after being denied title repeats at Rotterdam and Dubai.

Federer said he wouldn't be surprised to see Nadal across the net in the quarter-finals.

"Him not having played, for me, doesn't make any difference, really. I still expect him to be really difficult and tough to beat here."

Nadal's fellow Spaniard David Ferrer said much the same, even after he himself became the first major casualty of the tournament.

Ferrer, who has edged ahead of Nadal in the world rankings to No. 4, was beaten 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 by 37th-ranked South African Kevin Anderson.

The defeat followed a comprehensive 6-0, 6-2 loss to Nadal in the final at Acapulco a week earlier.

Perhaps with that rout still in mind, Ferrer said he expected Nadal to flourish on hard courts, just as he has on clay.

"He's playing good," Ferrer said. "He's not playing with pain in his knee and that is a very good point."

Women's top seed and defending champion Victoria Azarenka survived a shaky start to make it safely into the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over two-time former champion Daniela Hantuchova.

Azarenka, unbeaten in 2013 and winner of the Australian Open and the WTA event in Doha, fell behind 4-1 in the first, but surrendered just one game from there.

German fourth seed Angelique Kerber advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.

Results on Saturday from the fourth day of the ATP Masters and WTA BNP Paribas Open (x denotes seeded player):

Men

Second round

Benoit Paire (FRA) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER x21) 6-4, 6-2

Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP x29) 6-1, 6-0

Kevin Anderson (RSA) bt David Ferrer (ESP x4) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x30) 6-2, 6-3

Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI x18) bt Wayne Odesnik (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1

Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-2, 6-3

Jerzy Janowicz (POL x24) bt David Nalbandian (ARG) 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-3

Gilles Simon (FRA x13) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5

Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) bt John Isner (USA x15) 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4

Ivan Dodig (CRO) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA x28) 6-4, 6-2

Andreas Seppi (ITA x20) bt Daniel Brands (GER) 7-5, 6-4

Florian Mayer (GER x27) bt David Goffin (BEL) 6-4, 6-2

Richard Gasquet (FRA x10) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 7-6 (7/1), 6-2

Ernests Gulbis (LAT) bt Janko Tipsarevic (SRB x9) 6-2, 6-0

Rafael Nadal (ESP x5) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2

Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) bt Mischa Zverev (GER) 6-2, 6-4

Women

Second round

Jamie Hampton (USA) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE x20) 6-3, 6-3

Julia Goerges (GER x21) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 6-3, 6-3

Angelique Kerber (GER x4) bt Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) 6-3, 6-2

Yanina Wickmayer (BEL x30) bt Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Peng Shuai (CHN x32) bt Alexandra Dulgheru (ROM) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3

Samantha Stosur (AUS x7) bt Madison Keys (USA) 6-3, 6-4

Nadia Petrova (RUS x10) bt Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 6-2, 6-3

Garbine Muguruza (ESP) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x17) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4

Ana Ivanovic (SRB x11) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 6-1, 6-2

Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE x16) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2

Kirsten Flipkens (BEL x28) bt Monica Niculescu (ROM) 46 64 63

Victoria Azarenka (BLR x1) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 6-4, 6-1

Mona Barthel (GER x24) bt Kiki Bertens (NED) 6-1, 6-4

Elena Vesnina (RUS x29) bt Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x8) bt Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Urszula Radwanska (POL) bt Sloane Stephens (USA x15) 6-3, 6-4

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