Rafael Nadal is back competing in the ATP tournament when he started his campaign to win the tenth Italian Open title and he was in awe of his first match in the last 200 days.
The Spanish tennis star appeared confident as he extended his unbeaten streak against compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta in their sixth meeting and won 6-1 6-1 after 73 minutes in Foro Italico, Rome.
It was the defending Italian Open champion’s first match since February 29 when he won his 85th career title in Acapulco (beating Taylor Fritz).
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“It feels great to be back in the tournament,” cried Nadal. “I miss the audience and I had a good match, maybe he is a little tired after all the games he played in New York. It was the perfect start for me and that’s a solid result. So I shot some impressive shots too, including to my forehand and backhand. I didn’t think I could play that well.”
The 33-year-old, who bagged 62-6 at the Italian Open, will seek to win the 36th Masters 1000 tournament title of her career, an achievement that will surpass world number 1 and four-time Italian Open champion Novak Djokovic. Prior to that, in the third round he would face the 13th seed, Milos Raonic or Djokovic’s compatriot, Dusan Lajovic.
Nadal secured one break point in the first game and from 1-1, he won 16 of the next 22 before closing out the first set which lasted just 36 minutes by firing an ace.
Carreno Busta who advanced to the semifinals of the US Open last week (losing to Alexander Zverev), had to secure two break point opportunities in the first game of the second set. But Nadal did not let that go on for long. From 1-1 position, Carreno Busta was under constant pressure. The world number 2 claims her 14th win in 17 matches this season with her fifth chance of a service break.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal has been in the top 10 for 782 consecutive weeks since 25 April 2005, second only to Jimmy Connors (789 weeks). He also won at least one ATP tournament title at the Open Era in 17 consecutive seasons (2004 – 2020).
