Hard road to final for Nadal

Fresh from success on the Acapulco clay, Rafael Nadal this week will test the readiness of his knee to withstand the rigors of a top-tier tournament at the first Masters 1000 event of the year at Indian Wells.

Nadal made a mockery of the notion that seven months on the sidelines had blunted his clay-court supremacy by thrashing compatriot David Ferrer in the final in Mexico for the loss of just two games, having dispatched world number 11 Nicolás Almagro in straight sets in the semifinals. However, the demands of a hard court are different and the field laced with potential have-a-go-heroes, including Horacio Zeballos, the Argentinean journeyman who denied Nadal the title on his return to action in Viña del Mar.

However, Nadal's first test will come from either Ryan Harrison (73) or Go Soeda (71) before a projected third-round match against hard-hitting Russian Mikhail Youzhny. A potential quarterfinal against defending champion Roger Federer would precede a semifinal against opponents seeded to meet in the last eight in Tomas Berdych or world number four Ferrer -- although dangerous outsiders Richard Gasquet and Jerzy Janowicz should not be dismissed lightly.

Then, of course, the small matter or either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray reaching the final from the bottom half, which also contains Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martín del Potro, awaits next Sunday if the world number five were to win the top half of the draw.

Nadal and Del Potro played an exhibition match at Madison Square Garden overnight Monday to limber up for Indian Wells, with the Argentinean world number seven victorious in what was Nadal's first taste of a hard court since Miami a year ago, when he withdrew after a quarterfinal victory over Tsonga due to his troublesome knee.

However, Nadal, who has won titles in São Paulo and Acapulco since his return to the courts, has his eye firmly on the European clay-court season, which begins in Monte Carlo on April 14. "The priority is that the knee is allowed to recover and after that to try to arrive in Monte Carlo as close to 100 percent as possible," said Nadal.

The world number five holds an incredible 266-20 record on the crushed brick and last season swept to a record eighth title in Monte Carlo before triumphing in Barcelona, Rome and at the French Open, where this year he will aim to add an eighth Roland Garros crown to his laurels.