Spanish tennis player Rafal Nadal reached the third round of the Masters Series Miami, the second of the season, after defeating German Benjamin Becker in straight sets (7-5, 6-2).

Becker was able to put up a fight in the first set thanks to his great serve, but collapsed after that, enabling Rafa to move on to the third round where German Nicolas Keifer, who defeated Finn Jarkko Nieminen, awaits him.

The Majorcan also saw his future in the tournament partly cleared by the surprising defeat of Serbian Novak Djokovic, world nº3, who beat him in Indian Wells.The Serb, who hypothetically could have been the Spaniard's semi-final opponent, was knocked out in three sets by the South African Kevin Anderson (7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4).

At the start, Rafa also found himself being challenged by Becker, a qualifier who had defeated Guillermo Garcia-López in R1. The German broke him in his first service game and went ahead 2-0, but Rafa quickly reined him in by breaking back immediately in the next game

From then on both held serve until the eleventh game, when Rafa imposed his superiority and broke Becker for a second time, which meant he could then serve for the set. He served out the set to win 7-5 and there the match ended because the resistance the German had been putting up did not continue into the second set.

Rafa broke his opponent's serve at the outset, went 3-0 up, and there was no stopping him taking the match 7-5, 6-2.