Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori quashed German Benjamin Becker's rally attempt, emerging with a 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory on the new Grandstand court in two hours 10 minutes.
Boris Becker came down hard on Andy Murray,
Nadal has been red-hot on the hardcourts this year winning in Indian Wells and last week in Montreal.
Murray's dominant display on Centre Court against Benjamin Becker made him the most successful British man in Grand Slam history as he surpassed Fred Perry's total of 106 matches won at the four majors.
The 26-year-old is playing in his first tournament since mid-May when he suffered a lower back injury that forced him to withdraw from the French Open.
Tennis authorities gave John Tomic a worldwide ban from watching his son's matches in person after he was charged by Spanish police for allegedly assaulting his son's French hitting partner, Thomas Drouet, during the Madrid Masters earlier this year.
The former world number seven beat German Benjamin Becker 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 in the New Zealand tournament, a warm-up for this month's Australian Open Grand Slam later this month.
Roger Federer began his bid for a sixth title at the Swiss Indoors by beating substitute opponent Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round.
Defending champion John Isner hammered 12 aces to defeat Izak van der Merwe 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) and reach the semi-finals of the ATP Tour's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Friday.
Benjamin Becker of Germany has pulled out of the French Open because of a left elbow injury.