Nadal and Federer advance at Shanghai Masters

Roger Federer easily beat American John Isner while Rafa Nadal overcame an inspired performance by Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.

World number three Federer cut tall Isner down to size in a dazzling 6-3, 6-4 win with a crowd-pleasing performance featuring several volley-fuelled rallies.

World number one Nadal tuned up for his bid to win the tournament he lost in the final last year by defeating a persistent Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4.

"I can't say this was one of the toughest matches because Wawrinka is a very good player and it is very difficult to have a victory in straight sets," said the 24-year-old Spaniard.

"It wasn't easy, but it wasn't one of those very, very difficult days."

Nadal has so far enjoyed a hugely successful season, winning three grand slam crowns and a bevy of other top titles.

Fourth seed Briton and crowd favourite Andy Murray, who was joined in the third round by second seed Novak Djokovic, extinguished local hope Bai Yan's ambitions of another upset with a 6-2 6-2 thrashing.

The Scot was full of praise for the 21-year-old Chinese player, the world number 465, who displayed his potential to climb up the rankings by shocking Czech Radek Stepanek 24 hours earlier.

"I thought he was good. He has only played eight or nine tournaments this year. If he was from the UK I'm sure we would be very, very excited about him," said the world number four.

RODDICK RETIREMENT

Serbia's world number two Djokovic cruised past Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3 while fifth seed Robin Soderling of Sweden beat another Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3, 7-6.

Tenth-seeded American Roddick won the first set 6-3 against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and was eyeing a third-round spot when he pulled up at 3-2 down in the second with a groin strain.

Roddick's retirement mirrored that of his first-round opponent 24 hours earlier when German Philipp Kohlschreiber had to pull out in the early stages of the second set.

The 28-year-old American's injury brought back bad memories of a year ago when he limped out of the tournament in the first set of his second-round match against Wawrinka.

"It's really tough to get hurt or tougher to get hurt up a set and a break," said Roddick who has had a roller-coaster season dealing with injuries.