Rafael Nadal made a terrific beginning yesterday, defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

Before the beginning of his match at the Uniprix stadium, the seventh seed had to wait for two hours, because of the rain fall.

After the proper arrangements made to dey up the land, Nadal jumped into the field and won the first set in a tiebreaker, sweeping the second to reach the third round and a date with Mikhail Youzhny, who beat French ninth seed Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4.

In 2013, Nadal won the third title and it is his first time to play in Canada. On the season, Nadal improved to 40-12.

Also read: Nadal knocked out

Kei Nishikori, Japanese fourth seed and 4th ranker on the ATP, and who also possesses Washington title, started 6-3, 6-3 over Spain`s Pablo Andujar in 70 minutes. At the masters 1000 level, he won his 50th match.

 On the other hand, Nishikori, who is away from the game, for quite some time, cameback last week after a long-running thigh injury and said that he is alright now.

"I`ve been feeling pretty good. After winning the title, you have to feel good. My tennis is getting better," Nishikori said.

"I didn`t start quite well, but it was windy. We had a little wait, so it wasn`t easy in the beginning. But after a couple for games I was playing well, concentrating well, too. I`m very happy with my tennis today." Nishikori added.

American Jack Sock went down 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, after getting into trouble with 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov.

By Phani