Rafael Nadal returned to play his first major tennis match on Saturday night and after a falling behind American Ryan Harrison in the first set, he made his Indian Wells debut a winning one with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory.

The Spaniard came onto Stadium 1 Court at the BNP Paribas Open after not playing for 346 days but beat 73rd-ranked Harrison in the one-hour, 33-minute game. He was sidelined for seven months recovering from left-knee tendinitis.

"Two weeks ago, I didn't really know if I would be here playing," he said. "With 4-1 and a few break points, I felt that I was playing OK. Nothing special."

Nadal had white tape wrapped below his left knee and wore an aqua blue shirt and bandana. He fell to Harrison in the first set, 4-1, but then hit harder in corners that the 20-year-old American could not get to on time.

"I am very happy," Nadal said following his victory. He added, "Any victory is important for me because that gives me the chance to play another day. That's what I need, to play matches. I need to compete."

"I was throwing him off his rhythm a little bit," Harrison said. "Then he started passing better."

Earlier on Saturday, Roger Federer beat American John Isner. He moved into the third round after a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, a match that took 57 minutes and in which Federer did not face a single break point. In the day's final match, Urszula Radwanska was victorious over American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-4.

Federer said he would not be surprised to see himself face off against Nadal in the quarter-finals:

"Him not having played, for me, doesn't make any difference, really. I still expect him to be really difficult and tough to beat here."