Friday 20 February 2015 16:14, UK
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil at the Rio Open, winning 6-4 6-1 in his first clay-court match of the season.
Nadal had already suffered two early-season losses away from his favored clay surface, so the red dirt of Brazil was a welcome change.
The Spaniard has won nine of the last 10 French Opens and uses the clay-court season in Latin America as a tune-up for Roland Garros.
Nadal insists he's free of injuries and illness, which have plagued him the last few seasons and was delighted to get his Rio Open campaign underway with a victory against the home favourite.
"The important thing is play a tough match like this in the first round and win," Nadal said.
"And always beating someone in their home country, where he has a lot of support, is tough.
"I always have a good feeling playing on clay and I'm into the second round."
Nadal struggled in the first set, making a string of unforced errors but he managed to break his fellow left-hander three successive times - although he was broken twice himself before closing out the set.
In the second set he again broke Bellucci twice to jump to a 4-0 lead before closing out the match 6-1.
"The first set was very even, and Thomaz is very dangerous on this surface," Nadal said.
"The second set I started right off with an advantage and I felt more relaxed."
Second seed David Ferrer also advanced in the combined ATP-WTA event, defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-4 6-3 and fourth seed Fabio Fognini beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-1 7-6 (9-7) to reach the second round.
Two seeded men bowed out of the tournament, with Blaz Rola of Slovenia defeating Argentina's Leonardo Mayer, seeded fifth, after Mayer withdrew because of dehydration.
Juan Monaco of Argentina beat No 7 seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3 3-0. The Colombian retired with stomach problems.
On the women's side, top seed Sara Errani of Italy defeated Brazilian Teliana Pereira 6-3 6-3. No 3 seed Roberta Vinci of Italy won 7-6 6-3 against Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic.
Second seed Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania faces American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Madison Brengle of the United States, seeded fourth, faces Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany.
