The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal achieved a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 victory against the American Darwin Blanch, in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid.
Nadal, who is probably playing his last tournament in Spain (there is a good chance that he will retire at Roland Garros or the Olympic Games), did not give opportunities to his young rival, only 16 years old, who never found a way to complicate the game for the king of brick dust.
Nadal was very restrained in his shots and transfers, although this was enough for him to beat the American promise without problems and in just over an hour of play, who was very irregular and committed a large number of unforced errors.
In this way, Nadal entered the second round of the Madrid Masters 1000, a tournament he won five times (2005, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2017). His next rival will be the Australian Alex de Minaur (11th in the world), who has just eliminated him last week in Barcelona.
Nadal y Roland Garros
The director of the French Open tennis, Amelie Mauresmo, stated that it is unlikely that Rafael Nadal will be seeded in the tournament that will be held next month on the clay courts of Roland Garros.
The Spanish tennis player said the day before that he is not sure that he will be able to play this year’s French Open, which he has won a record 14 times. Nadal, 37 years old and 22-time Grand Slam champion, has fallen to 512th place in the rankings after a long period of inactivity in which he missed almost a year due to a hip injury.
He is entered in the main draw of the French Open thanks to his protected ranking, but this does not apply to his position before the tournament, as the 32 highest-ranked players are seeded. Without being seeded, Nadal could face the best players in the early rounds of the tournament.
Until 2020, Wimbledon was the only one of the four Grand Slams that did not stick to ATP and WTA rankings, opting instead to also take into account a player’s previous performances on grass. That formula was criticized by players, including Nadal, before being abandoned.
When asked about whether Nadal would be seeded at this year’s French Open, Mauresmo told reporters: “Right now it’s not a topic… Wimbledon did it for a long, long, long time, and “It certainly brought some advantages, but we also saw all the disadvantages it could generate. At the moment, it is not on the table.”
“We cross our fingers for him above all, for us obviously as well. We closely follow what happens to him on the field. We are in contact with his team. Whether there is a tribute depends a lot on him. We will follow his wishes,” he added.
Argentines in Madrid
Mariano Navone achieved a valuable victory on Wednesday against the Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-5 and 6-2, and will have a tough test in the second round, where he will go against the Dane Holger Rune.
Another good news for Argentine tennis was the triumphs of Facundo Bagnis, also on Wednesday over the American Brandon Nakashima, 6-3 and 7-5, and of Pedro Cachín, who this Thursday was able to end a streak of 15 consecutive defeats by winning to the Austrian Sebastian Ofner by a double 6-3. The first of them will play in the second round against the Russian Andrey Rublev, while the second will face the American Frances Tiafoe.
The only one who could not win was Facundo Díaz Acosta, who fought against Canadian Denis Shapovalov, but finally fell in three sets.
The other players in the second round are Sebastián Báez, Francisco Cerúndolo and Tomás Etcheverry, who begin their participation in this instance by being pre-classified. His rivals will be Luca Van Assche, Fábián Maroszan and Denis Shapovalov, respectively.
Regarding the female branch, Lourdes Carlé gave the big blow and got into the third round by beating Veronika Kumerdétova (17th seeded) by a double 6-4, Nadia Podoroska lost to the American Emma Navarro by a resounding 6-2 and 6-1.
2024-04-25 20:13:20
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