Nadal outshines Italian Starace

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Spaniard Nadal, who will be confirmed next week as the world No1 ahead of Switzerland's Roger Federer, beat the Italian clay-court specialist in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Starace, who has never beaten Nadal in four attempts and who has not won a hard-court match in his last 10 attempts, did little wrong but was finally musc led out by the hardrunning Spaniard.

"When I saw the draw it was amazing just be facing Nadal," said Starace.

Nadal is now likely to face Lleyton Hewitt in the second round - if the Australian overcomes his first round opponent Jonas Bjorkman.

Meanwhile British hope Andy Murray, the world No6 who won his first Masters Series in Cincinnati last month, will begin his Olympic campaign against Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei today.

The draw has not been kind to British No1 Murray, who is scheduled to face Nadal in the quarter-finals followed by a tough semifinal-against world No3 Novak Djokavic. Murray teams up with his brother Jamie for an evening men's doubles match against the Canadian pair of Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer.

The Murray brothers were scheduled to make their Olympic debut yesterday but torrential rain forced the postponement of numerous matches.