Nadal teamed with Carlos Moya to beat Federer and his Davis Cup teammate Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (5) today in the first round of the Rome Masters.

Nadal wasn't reading anything into the latest victory over his rival.

"We're in the second round in doubles, that's it," Nadal said. "Doubles is not the same tension as singles. But it's good practice for singles."

Nadal also won his only previous meeting with Federer in doubles. In 2004, Nadal and Tommy Robredo beat Federer and Yves Allegro in Indian Wells, Calif.

In singles, Nadal holds a 7-3 career edge over Federer and has won all five matches on clay, including a fifth-set tiebreaker win in last year's Rome final and the Monte Carlo Masters final last month.

Last week, Nadal beat Federer on a half-grass, half-clay court.

In singles, 16th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero rallied to beat Dominik Hrbaty 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Nicolas Almagro eliminated Tim Henman 7-5, 6-1 to set up a second-round match with Federer.

Dmitry Tursunov and Jose Acasuso were the only other players to advance before rain suspended first-round play. Tursunov defeated Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-1, and Acasuso downed Martin Verkerk 6-3, 7-5.

Federer, Nadal and the other top six seeded players have first-round byes in singles. Nadal will face either Robby Ginepri or Italian wild card Daniele Bracciali in the second round.

The Federer-Nadal doubles match took place on Foro Italico's second stadium and the seating section was overflowing with fans. Many also stood behind the stands to get a glimpse of the two top players.

Nadal and Moya broke Federer's serve to win the first set when Wawrinka netted two backhand volleys.

In the second set, Federer and Wawrinka went ahead with an early break. Wawrinka had a chance to serve out the set at 5-4 — but made two errors to let Nadal and Moya draw even. The match ended when Federer returned Moya's serve into the net on the first match point.

"We wasted some opportunities in the second set, but it's a little different playing those guys in doubles. They stay back a lot," Federer said. "But considering Stan was coming back from injury, I thought we played pretty well."

Wawrinka withdrew with a knee injury from Switzerland's Davis Cup loss to Spain in February.

"It was to help Stan coming back from injury and because we've never played together before," Federer said of his decision to play doubles. "In Davis Cup, we might play together. We've been talking about it for a year or so. I've always been helping Yves out, so now I'm helping Stan."

Ferrero, who won this tournament in 2001 and was once ranked No. 1, saved two break points in the final game against Hrbaty before reeling off four straight points to close out the match.

Almagro, who won his second straight Valencia Open title three weeks ago, served 12 aces, including one on his second match point. Henman, a former top-10 player now ranked No. 50, dropped to 4-4 this season.

Later, two other former top-ranked players, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin, were to play. Hewitt faced Spanish qualifier Oscar Hernandez and Safin played American qualifier Amer Delic.