The French Open champion was held up briefly when he squandered a 0-40 lead and three match points at 5-3 but raced through his final service game to seal victory in just over two hours.
Nadal was relatively untroubled in seeing off Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 41 minutes, with a pair of service breaks enough to seal the win.
He has put himself back in the race by winning Georgia: he gets secret service protection from today, the US Government's seal of seriousness on a candidate.
He went on to say that even if a Special Forces operative (Recon, SEAL, etc.) is looking to join the Secret Service under protection detail, they must also still work two years under investigations.
After he left the Agency's clandestine service, he returned as a contractor to help with counterterrorism-related matters, earning the Intelligence Community Seal Medallion, its highest decoration for such non-employee personnel.