Nadal wins opening match in London

Spain’s Rafael Nadal won his first roundrobin match at this year’s ATP World Tour Finals, coasting to a 63, 62 victory here Monday night over reigning French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka in just one hour and 23 minutes.

Both players started in shaky fashion by losing their opening service games at love, but the 14time Grand Slam champion seized control of the match when he got another break in the eighth game and then served out the set.

The fourthranked Wawrinka played poorly off both sides from the baseline and won a handful of games mainly on the strength of his serve, striking 10 aces overall, eight of them in the second set.

After losing the first set in 37 minutes, the Swiss fell off both physically and mentally in the second, committing a whopping 22 unforced errors to ease Nadal’s path to victory.

“Things are going better. I feel more comfortable on court and I see that I can compete well. I’m seeing the fruit of all the work. It’s good to start with a victory here,” the fifthranked Nadal told Spanish broadcaster Movistar+ in an oncourt interview inside the O2 arena.

The 29yearold Nadal has played well in recent weeks, but he did not win any of the four Grand Slam events or nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in 2015. Unless he pulls off a surprise and wins London, this season will be the first since 2004 that he failed to capture any of tennis’ biggest titles.

“The first set was hardfought. I started poorly, nervously and made some mistakes. Then I was able to return well and I got the break back. Then in the second set he played hit or miss (tennis),” the Spaniard said.

“I played solid, with few errors and the decisiveness I needed to have,” he added.

On Wednesday, Nadal will take on British world No. 2 Andy Murray a 64, 64 winner over Spain’s David Ferrer earlier Monday in his second of three roundrobin matches in the Ilie Nastase Group.

“It’s going to be an extremely tough match,” Nadal said. “For me it’s a good opportunity to see how I stack up against one of the best players in the world,” the Spaniard said.

Nadal lost in the championship match in 2010 and 2013 but has never won this eightman, seasonending indoor event. He has qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals for 11 straight seasons but has missed the tournament on several occasions due to injury, including last year.

Two matches in the Stan Smith Group will be played on Tuesday, highlighted by a blockbuster roundrobin contest pitting Serbian world No. 1 and 10time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic against Swiss world No. 3 Roger Federer, holder of a record 17 major titles.