MIAMI: Top seed Stan Wawrinka got his Miami Open title bid off to a solid start Saturday, beating Argentina's Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 6-4.
In the absence of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked players in the world, Wawrinka is the number one seed at the ATP hardcourt event and is fired up after reaching last week's final at Indian Wells, where he was beaten by fellow Swiss Roger Federer.
"I'm playing better tennis," Wawrinka said. "I feel that I'm playing good here. I took the confidence from Indian Wells. So let's see... When I'm playing well, when I am confident with my game, I know I can beat anybody.
"It has been quite tough conditions these last few days here. Raining, really windy today. It's really windy on the court, so it's never easy. I'm happy the way I was moving, the way I was playing, and my attitude in general was really positive."
Wawrinka, who turns 32 on Tuesday, will face either Feliciano Lopez or Malek Jaziri next for a place in the last 16.
Federer gets his bid underway later on Saturday when he faces American Frances Tiafoe.