Authoritarian Spanish triumph, with only 15 unforced errors and without conceding a single ‘break’ ball option (6-1, 6-0 and 6-3).
Nadal drives off McDonald.
Roland Garros first round. Rafael Nadal wins the Egor Gersarimov, 83rd in the ranking, debuting in the final table of the tournament, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-2. Novak Djokovic outperforms Mikael Ymer, 80th, who last year won his only match in Paris, 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3. Roland Garros second round. Nadal defeats Mackenzie McDonald236th in the world, who on Monday won the first victory of his life on the sand of the French capital, 6-1, 6-0 and 6-3, in one hour and 40 minutes.
This Thursday, Djokovic will face Ricardas Berankis, 66th, who in his six previous appearances in the tournament said goodbye on his debut. This Friday, the 12-time champion will meet Kei Nishikori, once top 4, today 35th, or Stefano Travaglia, 74th, who has also added in this edition his only victory to date on Parisian soil.
We do not forget Dominic Thiem, recent US Open champion and Roland Garros finalist, a somewhat different case. It was imposed on Marin Cilic, winner of the 2014 US Open, now down, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3, and in the second game he defeated 6-1, 6-3 and 7-6 (6) Jack Sock, top tennot long ago, risen now from the catacombs.
Exotic matches
The Grand Slam, with a 128-player roster, often offers exotic matchups for the big favorites in the early stages, a different scenario than the Masters 1000, where attractive crossovers can occur from the start.
Mackenzie McDonald, 25, with ranking protected after overcoming a serious injury, he had the second round of Delray Beach as his highest achievement this season. He had never played against Nadal. He had never set foot on the Philippe Chatrier. He played the United States university league until 2016. His best result in a Grand Slam was the eighth at Wimbledon, in 2018.
No conclusions
He started out happy, he ever went to the net on Nadal’s second serve, he threw some left. Until he lost the serve in the fourth game. The rest was a massacre. Victim of a certain desperation, the North American even tried a service below, already halfway through the second set. It was an overwhelming victory, which does not invite us to draw too many conclusions, given the weakness of the adversary.
As is logical from what we aim, no one has yet put to the test the man who aspires to equal the 20 Grand Slam titles of Roger Federer and that has already added 95 victories and only two defeats since he played the tournament for the first time, in 2005. At the moment, neither the change of balls nor dates nor the weather, in this less adverse game, have undermined Nadal’s performance, who wins with authority and manages energy to undertake higher heights.
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