Nadal resists more than 3 hours and advances in the Madrid Open

Ap

La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, April 30, 2024, p. a10

Madrid. Rafael Nadal’s physique withstood the toughest test yet at the Madrid Open. In three sets and more than three hours, the Spaniard fought to beat the Argentine Pedro Cachín.

Nadal showed no physical limitations when he won 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 against the number 91 in the ranking to reach the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, a tournament in which he is the owner of the record with five titles. His rival today will be the Czech Jiri Lehecka.

I had to take more risks in the third set. “It’s a long time without competing and it’s hard for me,” Nadal acknowledged. Let’s see how I wake up tomorrow. I’m really enjoying playing here. All these minutes on the court that I am accumulating have a lot of meaning for me.

The 37-year-old star is trying to reach the best possible level to compete in the French Open next month. After his most recent absence from the circuit due to an injury, Nadal played a couple of matches in Barcelona and was pessimistic about his physical condition upon arriving in Madrid. But he has chained three victories.

Nadal said his plan is to retire from the circuit this year, and the Madrid tournament would be his last against his compatriots.

He looked pretty good in the early stages against Cachín. The Argentine reacted in the second set, but suffered two breaks of serve when serving for the set, and eventually won in a tiebreaker.

Nadal did not have the same freshness in the last set, in which he showed fatigue. Although he lost regularity in the rallies, he achieved three breaks of serve to seal the victory in the Caja Mágica.

Lehecka, 31st in the ranking, made an appointment against Nadal after beating Brazilian Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-6 (7).

Jannik Sinner, the top seed of the tournament, did not offer his best version, but he managed to beat Russian Pavel Kotiv 6-2, 7-5. Sinner, who has hip discomfort, will face another Russian, the 16th seed, Karen Khachanov.

Early on, third seed Daniil Medvedev overcame 24 unforced errors to beat American Sebastian Korda 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3. The Russian was two points away from defeat.

Approaching the quarterfinals in Madrid for the first time, Medvedev will face the Kazakh Alexander Bublik (ranked 17), who defeated the American Ben Shelton (14) 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 ). The Norwegian Casper Ruud (5) beat the British Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-4

In the women’s division, Iga Swiatek continued her march in search of her first title in Madrid after beating Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1, 6-0.

The number one took the last 12 games of the match and only gave up five points in the second set to reach the quarterfinals of the only major European tournament on a clay surface in which the Pole has not become champion.

2024-04-30 09:13:17
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