Australian Open 2022: Rafa Nadal raises the level against Khachanov and goes to the second round of the Australian Open for the fifteenth time

Rafael Nadal, sixth favorite in the draw, has qualified this Friday for fifteenth time for the second round of the Australian Open. Only Roger Federer (18) passed the sieve more times than the first three matches on the courts of Melbourne Park within the Open Era.

The champion of 20 greats has given a good account of Karen Khachanov by 6-3, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-1, in 2 hours and 50 minutes. The duel began on Friday and ended on Saturday in the capital of Victoria.

“It’s been my best game since I’ve been back. This week is being very special and playing here means everything”, declared the winner on court.

Khachanov has lost eight times against the Spaniard, but options have been created so that this figure would not be so negative. Today he also had his chances, but Nadal closed the door on him in time.

The Muscovite stole the first set from the Spaniard in the tournament and pushed an opponent’s physique to the limit who had not played such a long duel since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Roland Garros semifinals.

His body continues to respond favorably after missing the second part of last season due to an injury to his left foot.

The Russian, who has one of his best weapons in the service, gave up his first serve and allowed his rival to go ahead with a 3-0.

Since then, the Balearic dominated and his opponent put on the dominated suit. Karen didn’t score a return point until the ninth game, which was her opponent’s fourth service turn.. It was due to a long right hand from the manacor.

The Muscovite would no longer win with Nadal’s serve in the opening round. Rafa played so relaxed that he was able to fire shots up to 200 kilometers per hour.

It was his debut this year in the night session, but he hardly noticed the change of habitat. He played later than the schedule for the previous marathon between Carlos Alcaraz and Matteo Berrettini.

Khachanov gave up his first serve of the second set again. Nadal accelerated to save energy and return to his rooms at the Crown Towers in Melbourne as soon as possible.

Karen (28) was the first seed to cross the path of the manacor. There is a statistic that congratulates the leader of the ‘Armada’ at this stage of the competition. He has conceded a single ‘break’.

The Russian took the lead in the third set with a 3-1 lead and kept that lead to close the gap. The beginning of the fourth round was going to be key and it was a 3-0 for the Australian champion in 2009, who hit a backhand passer to put the finishing touch.

Karatsev o Mannarino

Nadal will be measured on Sunday for a place in the quarterfinals with the winner of the duel between Karatsev, semifinalist of the tournament in the last edition, and Adrian Mannarino.

At the moment, the Spaniard, 35 years and 241 days old, has chained six wins in the capital of Victoria if the title in the previous tournament is counted.