Nadal breezes at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Rafael Nadal was determined to overcome the tricky, swirling winds that made serving and hitting routine shots tricky.

No. 1 Nadal powered his way to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Andy Murray on a gusty Sunday afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open to win his second Indian Wells title in three years.

Like Nadal, Vera Zvonareva was steadier in the wind than her finals opponent, beating defending champion Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (5), 6-2 to win the women's title.

Nadal's low, hard ground-strokes gave him an edge against No. 4 Murray, more of a counterpuncher whose game relies on pace and a mix of shots.

"The conditions today were really difficult. But I think I had a good strategy and played a really good match under this conditions," Nadal said. "Probably Andy didn't play his best because of the conditions, but I think I played a really complete match, moving very well.

"I never stopped the legs during the match, and I think that was the key."

The 22-year-old Spaniard rode his usual powerful forehands, hitting 10 winners from that side to Murray's one. Nadal also was efficient at the net, winning eight of 11 points to Murray's five of 10.

With the wind making the service toss difficult, neither player served an ace.

"Rafa dealt with it well," said Murray, a 21-year-old Scot. "He hit the ball cleaner and just seemed to get himself in better positions than I did."

Nadal added the championship to the Australian Open title he won earlier this year and avenged a loss to Murray in the Rotterdam final.

Zvonareva added the singles trophy to the one she won in doubles with Victoria Azarenka a day earlier. Zvonareva had beaten Azarenka in their singles semifinal. No. 6 Zvonareva joined Lindsay Davenport as the only women to win the singles and doubles title at Indian Wells in the same year. Davenport did it twice, in 1997 and 2000.

In the singles final this time, the wind gusted around the stadium in the 40-mph range, with the players often tossing the ball to serve only to have to catch it and try again, and again.

Serving the first point of the tiebreaker, Ivanovic tossed the ball up, it went sailing some 3 feet behind her, bounced on the court and kept bouncing away, swept off the court by the wind.

Ivanovic finally served and won the point, but a string of errors cost her the rest of the tiebreaker and plagued her in the second set. She made 46 unforced errors in the match, double Zvonareva's total. Ivanovic also had five double faults, Zvonareva one.

Those mistakes negated Ivanovic's winners -- she hit 29 to Zvonareva's five.

"Even though I had some mistakes and some frustrating points with the wind, I was still trying to put as many balls as I can in the court, trying to concentrate," Zvonareva said.

Ivanovic said the conditions were the worst she's played in.

"It wasn't much about the game plan. It was who can handle the conditions better and who can stay probably mentally tougher through it," Ivanovic said. "Today, she did."