Great New Year for Spaniards in Chennai Open

Chennai, Jan 1 (UNI) It turned out to be a great New Year for the young brigade from Spain, world number two Rafael Nadal and Bartolome Salva-Vidal as the duo started with an upset win in the doubles event of the Chennai Open ATP Tennis tournament here tonight.

In their first round match, the 20-year-olds from Spain toppled defending champions and second seeded Michael Mertinak (Slovakia) and Petr Pala (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-3 in little under an hour to enter the quarterfinals.

The Spaniards, who were given wild card in the doubles, bamboozled their experienced rivals with some breathtaking volleys and ground strokes to make it a no contest. Such was their authority that the double-fisted backhand shots from Nadal and the exuberance of Vidal at the net brooked no reply.

With punishing shots and dipping serves, Nadal warmed up for the challenge ahead in the singles in which the French open champion and nemesis of Swiss Roger Federer is the odds-on favourite.

''Playing together for the first time in an ATP, we are happy to defeat the defending champions'', Nadal said after the game. ''This is the first time we are playing together in ATP event. It went well.

We were very comfortable and I look forward to playing with him'', Nadal added.

''The idea to play doubles was to fine tune my game at the net'', Nadal said.

Either executing the volleys at the net or belting winners from the baseline, Nadal displayed some vintage stuff and the rising star Vidal, nicknamed ''Tomeo'' showcased his talent with neat interceptions at the net.

The Spaniards started with a bang taking a 2-0 lead after Mertinak dropped serve in the first game. Petr Pala held the serve to make 2-1, before the Nadal-Vidal combination ran amok winning the next four games in a row to win the first set.

Their ascendancy continued in the second as Nadal-Vidal led 4-1 breaking Pala in the fourth game and Vidal, playing his first ATP event, held serve at love all in the fifth. The set went with the serve and Vidal came up with an impeccable serve at 40-0 and Nadal finished it off with an acute angle cross-court back hand drop shot.

Mertinek made a vain bid to reach out but only managed to find the net.

UNI