Rafael Nadal’s body withstood its toughest test yet at the Madrid Open, en route to a tough 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory after three hours of play against the 91st world racket Pedro Cachin on Monday.
Nadal showed no sign of weakness during this duel which allowed him to reach the round of 16 of the clay court tournament which he won on five occasions throughout his prestigious career. In the next round he will face the 31st racket in the world, the Czech Jiri Lehecka.
“I took a lot of risks in the third set, and that’s difficult to do after an absence of several months,” noted Nadal. It’s been a long time since I played such a tough match. We will see how I react tomorrow (Tuesday). But I’m already very satisfied with having won three matches in a row. »
The 37-year-old veteran is trying to get back into shape ahead of the French Open next month. Since missing the tour with his last injury, he has played two matches for Barcelona and appeared to be rather pessimistic about his fitness heading into the tournament in Madrid. But he won three duels in a row on Madrid clay.
Nadal seemed rather comfortable against Cachin. The Argentinian fought well, especially in the second set, but he was the victim of two breaks while serving for the set. Cachin eventually sealed the outcome of the tiebreaker.
Nadal seemed a little more tense in the third set, and above all a little more exhausted. He lacked consistency in his shots, but was still able to record three breaks to secure the victory – to the great pleasure of the spectators present at the ‘Caja Magica’.
Sinner will also be in the 8th
Jannik Sinner, world No. 2 and a man in good form during the first part of the season, is in the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 in Madrid after his 6-2, 7-5 victory against Russian Pavel Kotov (72nd).
For a place in the quarter-finals, Sinner, seeded No. 1 in the Spanish capital in the absence of Novak Djokovic, will face the Russian Karen Khachanov (17th), victorious over another Italian, Flavio Cobolli (64th), 7 -5, 6-4.
Sinner narrowly avoided a third set. Trailing 5 games to 3 in the second set, the Australian Open winner rejected a set point on his serve in favor of Kotov. Four games and four match points later, it was he who won in 1h38 min.
Sinner thus brings his record for the 2024 season to 27 victories for only two defeats.
2024-04-29 18:29:00
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