Nadal eases past Schuettler in Indian Wells opener

RAFAEL Nadal cruised through his first match since the Australian Open in January to book his place in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Centre.

BACK WITH A BANG: Rafael Nadal admits he was more worried by the windy conditions than his injury problems after returning to tennis at Indian Wells (Getty Images)

The Spaniard, who is defending champion in California, was rarely troubled by Germany's Rainer Schuettler as he secured a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Nadal showed no sign of the knee injury which saw him withdraw from his quarter final against Andy Murray in Melbourne and will face Croatia's Mario Ancic in the round three.

And the world number three admitted he had been more worried about the windy conditions than a recurrence of his knee injury on Saturday.

"It was a good start considering the conditions and I'm very happy," said Nadal.

"When the wind was behind me, I felt I only had to touch the ball on my backhand and it would go out. It was so strong.

"But I felt really confident on the forehand which is really important to me. Maybe I can improve my backhand for my next match."

World number two and 2008 champion Novak Djokovic also progressed in Indian Wells but made heavy work of USA's Mardy Fish.

The Serbian, who lifted the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships last month, started strongly against the world number 106 but dropped seven games on the bounce to lose the second set.

But Fish, who lost the 2008 final to Djokovic in California, couldn't maintain his level and the Serb progressed 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 to set up a third round clash with Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Croatia's Australian Open semi finalist Marin Cilic was the biggest casualty in the men's draw as he lost 7-6, 6-0 to Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez while Great Britain's Andy Murray plays his second round match with Andreas Seppi on Sunday.

Meanwhile, world number three and top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova crashed out of the women's draw in Indian Wells.

The Russian, who lifted the French Open last season, has struggled for form in 2010 and her inconsistency shone through as she slumped to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 defeat to Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic was another second round casualty on Saturday but US Open champion Kim Clijsters and third seed Victoria Azarenka both progressed in straight sets.

British number one Elena Baltacha plays her third round match with Australian wildcard Alicia Molik on Sunday.