Rafael Nadal overpowered Jonas Bjorkman to reach the third round of the Artois Championships at Queen's Club.

The Spanish top seed, playing his first singles match of the year on grass, was quickly into his stride.

Nadal, who claimed his fourth straight French Open title on Sunday, attacked throughout and quickly closed out a 6-2 6-2 victory against the veteran Ferrer survives epic with Hewitt ...
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Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt, both chasing a record fifth title here, also made progress.

But Nadal, who is seeking to end Roger Federer's long winning streak at Wimbledon this year, was the centre of attention and did not let his fans down with a typically dominant display.

He has never been beyond the quarter-finals here but showed how his game on this surface is improving by outplaying Bjorkman, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2006.

"Right now I am playing well," Nadal said. "Sometimes it's difficult to adapt from clay to grass, but I came through this.

"It was a very important win and I am feeling good. I like it here."

Defending champion Roddick, who missed the French Open with a shoulder injury, had to work slightly harder on his way to beating fellow American Robbi Ginepri 6-7 (8-6) 6-1 6-1.

Third seed Roddick, who is scheduled to meet Andy Murray in the quarter-finals, added: "I feel very comfortable here, I love playing at this club and hopefully we can get another title.

"My shoulder is getting there. To play three sets healthy is really big for me and hopefully it will pull up well on Thursday."

Hewitt, whose last success here came in 2006, had no problems in despatching Xavier Malisse 6-3 6-2 to set up a meeting with French seventh seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The 27-year-old Australian has been playing through a hip injury but broke Malisse early in each set and did not look back.

(BBC)

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