Nadal finds grass legs

ByEurosport

Published 14/06/2006 at 14:44 GMT

Fresh off of winning his second French Open title, Rafael Nadal dominated Mardy Fish 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 on Wednesday in his first ever match at the Queen's Club. Unable to break the American in the first set, Nadal dominated Fish from the tie-break onwards in

Nadal play Fernando Verdasco in the third round after easily dispatching of Fish without dropping a single break.

Though Fish fought hard to stay in the match in the first set, once it reached a tie-break Nadal turned into the untouchable beast he normally is on clay, taking point after point at the net.

"I felt good because I had good ball control. And when I played aggressively, I felt comfortable."

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"I'm very, very happy," the top seed said on a day in which he also watched his Spanish World Cup side romp to a 4-0 opening match victory over Ukraine.

"The first victory is important... especially to get confidence for Wimbledon. Now I'll get to play another match here and is very important for me play some matches before Wimbledon."

NICE ON THE GRASS

After his dominant showing in the tie-break, Nadal went onto break Fish twice in the second set to easily collect his 25th consecutive match victory.

"It's very nice to play on grass," said Nadal, who is unbeaten on clay for a record 60 consecutive matches.

"(Adjusting) the baseline game is very nice because you can put the slice, you can go to the net, you can go a little bit more slow, you can go little bit more fast.

"On clay, you need put all (your energies) on playing tough. Here, you can play different styles."

The Spaniard was a first-round loser at Halle after his first Grand Slam title last year, but looked brilliant in his decision to travel to London after his second French Open crown, earning his second victory on grass in 12 months.

THE BEST TEAM

Nadal was almost equally impressed with Spain's opening World Cup performance as he was with his own impressive opening showing on grass.

"I saw the match until 3-0 and then I had to go on court," Nadal said after the two wins.

"I saw the best team today, (and) then my match was a good surprise. I knew Mardy Fish would be a difficult match on grass."

HENMAN REBORN?

Earlier on Wednesday, Tim Henman picked up where he left off against Andre Agassi, showing that he was indeed fully recovered from the injuries that plagued him all of last year as he spritly occupied centre court in his home tournament.

TENNIS 2006 ATP Queen's Club 2R Henman

Image credit: Reuters

With early breaks in both sets against Delgado and a love game to finish off the match, the Briton wasted no time in advancing to the third round where he faces the winner of the match between seventh seeded Czech Radek Stepanek and France's Nicolas Mahut.

WRAP-UP

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, a former three-times winner, edged past Spain's Fernando Vicente 4-6 6-4 6 2.

Second seed Ivan Ljubicic claimed a stylish 7-6 6-2 win over Romania's Razvan Sabau but fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko perished.

Bad weather forced former Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis to work overtime and he was forced to eliminate French 11th seed Sebastien Grosjean 7-6 4-6 6-3 in his second match of the day.

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