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| Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian in Brazin Open |
Rafael Nadal won his doubles opener on 12 Jan 2013 at the Brazil Open, his second tournament after a long injury layoff.
Nadal teamed up with David Nalbandian of Argentina to beat Spaniards Pablo Andujar and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 3-6, 11-9.
Earlier,
Fifth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci beat fellow-Brazilian Guilherme Clezar 7-6
(4), 5-7, 7-6 (1) on Tuesday in the first round of the singles.
In
other first-round matches at the clay-court event, Argentina’s Guido
Pella topped sixth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-1, and
eighth-seeded Albert Ramos beat Spanish compatriot Guillermo
Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-5.
Nadal and Nalbandian saved a few match points and eventually closed out their match in 1 hour, 19 minutes.
Nadal
played in Chile last week for the first time after a seven-month
absence with a left-knee injury, losing the singles and doubles final at
the VTR Open in Vina Del Mar. He played doubles in Chile with Juan
Monaco.
Nadal’s first singles match at Sao Paulo is Thursday.
Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam winner, will play the Acapulco Open in Mexico later this month.