French Open champion Rafael Nadal made a smooth adjustment from clay to grass Wednesday, beating Marcos Daniel in straight sets to reach the third round of the Queen's Club Tournament. The top-seeded Nadal, who captured his fifth Roland Garros title on Sunday, enjoyed the perfect start to his Wimbledon preparations with a 6-2, 6-2 victory under rainy London skies. The Spaniard, who had a bye in the first round, was joined in the last 16 by second-seeded Novak Djokovic, who beat Italy's Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3, and No. 7 Sam Querrey, who knocked out fellow American Robby Ginepri 7-6 (4), 6-2. No. 5 Marin Cilic of Croatia also advanced by beating France's Nicolas Mahut 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2. It was Nadal's first match on grass since his epic five-set win over Roger Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final. Nadal missed the grass-court season last year with knee problems. Nadal, who beat Robin Soderling in the French Open final Sunday to supplant Federer at No. 1 in the rankings, looked comfortable on the grass against his 112th-ranked Brazilian opponent. “It's difficult to adapt but I am happy to be back on grass, it is one of the surfaces I enjoy playing on,” said Nadal, who faces Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the third round. Play was stopped by light rain with Nadal leading 2-1 in the second set, and he signed autographs as he left the court. When play resumed after a 14-minute delay, Nadal broke at love to lead 4-2 when Daniel made a forehand error. Hewitt reaches quarters Australia's Lleyton Hewitt beat Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open and said he was in ideal form heading into the latter stages of the tournament. Hewitt will meet Andreas Beck in the last eight after the German player defeated compatriot Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4). Philipp Petzschner defeated Viktor Troicki 7-6 (5), 6-3 to become the first name in the quarterfinals. The 29-year-old Hewitt felt a twinge in his neck during the match but served well nevertheless to sweep past the 21-year-old Dutch player and continue his impressive comeback from a hip injury. “I felt a bit of stiffness in my neck when I went back for a smash and I didnt want it to get worse, but I was able to keep going, which was good,” the eighth-seeded Hewitt said. Errani advances Sara Errani maintained the feelgood factor surrounding Italian women's tennis by advancing into the third round of the WTA Wimbledon warm-up event at Edgbaston Wednesday. Days after Francesca Schiavone stunned the tennis world by becoming the first Italian woman to a win a Grand Slam singles title with a straight sets win over Australia's Samantha Stosur in the French Open final, Errani showed there was more than one woman in the Italian game worthy of note. The fifth seed defeated Shenay Perry of the United States 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Meanwhile it was a day of mixed fortunes for two British competitors. British No. 1 Elena Baltacha retired after just seven games but there was better news for Anne Keothavong, who reached the second round with a three-set win. Baltacha retired after losing the first set 6-1 to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi. Keothavong lost the first set against France's Pauline Parmentier before coming back to win 4-6, 7-5, 7
