Rafa, Halep ease into Round 3

Madrid, May 3

Rafael Nadal defeated Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3 6-3 on Tuesday to win his 11th consecutive match this year and advance to the third round of the Madrid Open.

Nadal broke Kuznetsov’s serve once in the first set and twice in the second to secure the win in his opening match at the clay-court tournament that he has won twice in the last three seasons.

The Spaniard had four aces and no double faults against the 39th-ranked Russian.

Former world No. 4 Juan Martin del Potro — currently ranked 274th after a series on injuries — beat Dominic Thiem 7-6(5) 6-3.

World No. 7 Simona Halep thrashed Karin Knapp 6-1 6-1 to reach the third round. The Romanian needed just over an hour to dispose of the world No. 75 to set up a clash with 10th-seed Timea Bacsinszky, who beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-4 5-7 6-4, in the last 16 on Wednesday. — Agencies