Shanghai: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray advanced to the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday, although only the Spaniard had to step onto the court.
The top-seeded Nadal easily beat countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2, while Murray received a walkover when Dmitry Tursunov of Russia pulled out with a thigh injury.
Tursunov had defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in a tough, three-set match in the first round on Tuesday.
Murray, seeded second as the defending champion, hasn't played a match yet in Shanghai, receiving a first-round bye.
Earlier on Wednesday, fourth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was knocked out by Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4. The Frenchman fought off two match points with aces before hitting a backhand long to hand Nishikori the win.
The loss will hurt Tsonga's chances of claiming one of the four remaining spots in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London. He is eighth in the standings, the last qualifying spot.
In another second-round match, third-seeded David Ferrer of Spain defeated Canadian Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6 (7). Raonic, who has now lost to Ferrer three times this year, had a set point in the tie-breaker, but couldn't convert.
Sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, fresh off a win last week at the China Open in Beijing, also advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over fellow Czech Radek Stepanek.
Garcia-Lopez won his last meeting with Nadal, in the semi-finals of the Thailand Open in 2010, Nadal's first tournament after capturing the US Open.
"It was a tough loss last year in Bangkok," Nadal said. "Less painful because I came after winning the US Open, but it probably was the more unbelievable loss in my career against him last year because I never had as many chances as I had in that match, and I lost. It was a little bit in my mind today in the break points."
After losing the first set and going down a break in the second set on Wednesday, Garcia-Lopez started hitting drop shots to bring Nadal to the net.
He broke Nadal's serve to level the score at 2-2, but Nadal immediately broke back when he got to a drop shot, chased down a lob and stabbed a backhand volley for a winner.
Nadal's only complaint afterward was with the balls being used in Shanghai, which he said are much faster than those at the Japan Open in Tokyo last week. He said the same balls should be used when there are several tournaments on the same surface in a row, such as the hard-court tournaments in Thailand, Japan and China on the tour's autumn Asian swing.
"Something must change because is too dangerous for the shoulders," he said. "That's something that, in my opinion, can change. In my opinion, not difficult to change."
Nadal plays 15th-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany in the third round, while Murray takes on Stanislas Wawrinka, the 13th-seeded Swiss.
Murray's draw has opened up with the losses of Tsonga and fifth-seeded Mardy Fish, who fell to Australian Bernard Tomic on Tuesday. The highest seeded player remaining in his half of the draw is No. 8 Gilles Simon of France.
Tsonga appeared sluggish early in his match, spraying forehands long and allowing Nishikori to run him around the court. Although he won the first-set tie-breaker, he was broken twice and hit only four winners to drop the second set.
The 47th-ranked Nishikori, who was 1-9 against top 10-ranked players before the match, then broke Tsonga twice more in the third set to close out the match after nearly two and a half hours.
"He's really talented, especially when everything works," Tsonga said. "Today he didn't miss one drop shot. He played really well. He returned unbelievable. I think nobody breaks me many times like this."
American teenager Ryan Harrison, who upset 11th-seeded Viktor Troicki in the first round, lost to fellow qualifier Matthew Ebden of Australia, 6-4, 6-2. Ebden, ranked 124th, had only won eight matches on the ATP tour coming into Shanghai.
Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero rallied from a set down to beat compatriot and 16th-seeded Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In other second-round matches, Colombia's Santiago Giraldo edged 14th-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), and 12th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine defeated qualifier Albert Ramos of Spain, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
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