Cincinnati, Ohio - Rafael Nadal overcame two rain interruptions Wednesday to finally join Roger Federer and Andy Murray in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters as the leading trio scored opening victories on a lightning-fast hard-court. Second seed Nadal stood two pointS from victory in a second-set tiebreaker when the second bout of light rain interrupted his momentum.
But the four-time French Open winner playing only his second event since late May after resting damaged knees, finished off with a defeat of Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3).
"I was there all the time. I was fighting every point," Nadal said.
"These matches help me a lot to get my best performance and to get physical training, too. Everything is positive. The most positive thing: I'm gonna be tomorrow another time on the court."
Top seed Federer and number three Murray had better luck with weather - only one pause for Murray - as they got through their opening matches.
Federer, revelling in his new role as father of twins, burst out of the blocks to claim his fifth victory against Argentine Jose Acasuso 6-3, 7-5.
"I was happy today because I know the transition to Cincy is always a difficult one," said the two-time finalist.
"I have had very up and down results here. It just showed sort of how hard it is to get used to kind of courts. We don't usually play on these fast courts. That's why I'm very happy with today's match."
The win lifted Federer's record to 43-7 on the season as he chases his fourth title of 2009 after winning the French Open and Wimbledon in recent weeks.
Murray was untroubled by a passing shower, returning to the court after 25 minutes to complete a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.
The 85-minute victory sends Murray into a match with Czech Radek Stepanek, who inflicted a final career disappointment on retiring Russian Marat Safin 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
"(Almagro) has a very big serve," Murray said.
"He served well in the first set. After the rain interruption, I didn't change much in my game. I was just getting more accustomed to the fast court. I only had an hour of training on Tuesday."
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic, last year's losing finalist to Andy Murray, beat Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who defeated Federer five days ago in the Montreal quarter-finals, was dispatched under a barrage of 20 aces by Aussie qualifier Chris Guccione.
