MIAMI — Second-seeded Rafael Nadal launched his bid for a first Miami Masters title Friday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Nadal, who has four runner-up finishes in 10 prior appearances on the hardcourts of Miami, showed no signs of the training mishap which left him with a sore ankle and threatened to compromise his start. “I think I did the things well when I had to do. I played with no mistakes in the important points,” said Nadal. “The wind was really high, it was very difficult to find a positive feeling on court. “I played a solid match. I played well, I had a good movement. I had some good winners, Almagro was not an easy opponent.” Nadal said his ankle is not fully healed, but is tolerable. Nadal took 52 minutes to win the opening set. The first four games took 23 minutes, but his early break of Almagro proved enough to take the set. Nadal quickened his pace in the second, breaking Almagro twice and securing the win on his first match point to book a third-round berth. He was done and dusted before the arrival of heavy rain that washed out the night session, which was to feature world No. 1 Serena Williams launching her bid for an eighth Miami title with a second-round match against Monica Niculescu. It's the second tournament in a row that Williams will find herself opening her campaign against the Romanian, having worked hard to beat her 7-5, 7-5 in the second round at Indian Wells, California. Precocious amateur CiCi Bellis, a 15-year-old American, advanced Friday to a potential third-round match against Williams by beating Zarina Diyas 6-2, 6-1. Two-time champion Andy Murray also reached the third round, backing up his recent Davis Cup win over Donald Young with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the American. Murray, seeded third, has defeated Young in five of six meetings, including in last month's Davis Cup first-round date in Glasgow. The Scot mustered just 14 winners and hit 21 unforced errors, but it was enough compared to the 32 unforced errors from Young in the match played in draining heat and humidity. The victory took less than 90 minutes and put Murray into a third-round meeting with Colombia's Santiago Giraldo, who beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-2, 3-6, 6-0. Swiss seventh seed Stan Wawrinka needed a fightback to overpower Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-7 (9-11), 7-5, 6-2, while eighth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over South Korea's Chung Hyeon. Austrian Dominic Thiem beat Spain's 10th seed Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3 while South African 15th seed Kevin Anderson defeated Sam Querrey 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Australian Bernard Tomic shook off effects of last week's wisdom tooth trouble and back pain at Indian Wells — which forced him to forfeit a match — posting a 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 victory over American Austin Krajicek. Women's third seed Simona Halep pulled herself together after dropping the second set to earn a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Czech Nicole Vaidisova. Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Irina Falconi 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3. Swede Johanna Larsson surprised Czech 10th seed Lucie Safarova with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. — Agencies
