Nadal, Murray win in Tokyo second round

TOKYO, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Top seeds Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray had straight-set wins Thursday in advancing to the quarterfinals of the Rakuten Japan Tennis Championships.

Nadal, the world's No. 2-ranked player, fought off Milos Raonic for a 7-5, 6-3 victory in which he didn't face a break point. Nadal had just two break-point chances but cashed them both in taking a step toward defending his Japan Open title.

Nadal won 80 percent of points on serve, losing 11 points over 11 service games. Raonic won a healthy 70 percent on serve but Nadal bunched points in the 12th game of the first set and the sixth in the second for breaks.

The second-seeded Murray also won 80 percent of the points when serving and didn't have to deal with a break point in a 6-1, 6-2 romp over Alex Bogomolov Jr. Murray took 57 percent of the points when receiving in amassing five breaks.

David Ferrer, the No. 3-seed, rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over world No. 137 Matthew Ebden. Other second-round results Thursday saw Santiago Giraldo top Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) and David Nalbandian defeat Ivan Dodig 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

Nadal goes against Giraldo and fourth-seeded Mardy Fish plays Bernard Tomic in Friday's quarterfinals from the top half of the draw. Murray meets Nalbandian and Ferrer faces seventh-seeded Radek Stepanek in the lower-half quarterfinals.