Rafael Nadal emerged victorious in his first match since lifting the Wimbledon title, with the second-seeded Spaniard overcoming American Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-2 at the Toronto Masters on a rainy Wednesday, dpa reported.
Nadal had to spend a frustrating day waiting for six hours to go on court as heavy weather soaked the event. The only match that began on time got in a mere two games before the weather arrived.
When sun broke through in the afternoon, officials quickly queued up all 14 outstanding second-round singles matches on six available courts.
Nadal's win was his 25th in a row dating to Rome in May, as he improved to 12-2 in Canada at the event where he won his first hardcourt title.
Levine, born in Canada but now based in Florida, stood little chance with a 123 ranking. But the underdog gave the seed an early fright by going up a break and forcing Nadal to recover from 1-3 down.
"Obviously nerves got a little bit of me there," said Levine. "I fought hard and played well, came up with some big shots at certain times. I just couldn't convert on a lot of break points."
Nadal, the world number two, broke twice in each set to ice the win and move into Thursday's third round against Igor Andreev, who put out 16th seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Two more seeds advanced quickly, with number five David Ferrer defeating American Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-4 and 10th seed Richard Gasquet stopping Andrey Kudryavtsev of Kazakstan 7-5, 6-3.
Croatian Marin Cilic nailed an upset over 12th seed Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4, while Marat Safin completed a Tuesday night contest that got only as far as two games when rain came.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Safin crushed Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3.