Alex de Minaur has been handed the prospect to attain what would as soon as have been considered ‘mission unattainable’ — knocking out Rafael Nadal from two Spanish clay-court tournaments in successive weeks.
The rematch, following de Minaur’s victory over the king of clay in final week’s Barcelona Open, will come on the Madrid Open after Nadal warmed up ruthlessly for the encounter on Thursday by handing out a fairly brutal lesson to a 16-year-old US wildcard Darwin Blanch.
Nadal, nonetheless making his approach again after damage and with questions over whether or not he’ll make it to 1 ultimate French Open, successfully handled the match as a coaching train as he crushed the inexperienced teen, who was making solely his second tour-level look, 6-1 6-0 in 64 one-sided minutes .
Their mismatch additionally featured the most important age hole – 21 years and 117 days – within the historical past of ATP Masters 1000 matches, however Nadal supplied a faint smile as he contemplated what shall be a way more forbidding encounter in opposition to de Minaur in Saturday’s second spherical.
In Barcelona eight days in the past, de Minaur outplayed the 37-year-old Nadal 7-5 6-1 on the courtroom named in his honour, and the five-time Madrid winner is simply glad to be savouring his return to the ‘Caja Magica’ – Magic Box – area one ultimate time earlier than he hangs up his racquet.
“Just trying to enjoy every moment. Tomorrow, one more day of practice here – and then after tomorrow, on court again. That makes me feel great,” mentioned Nadal.
“I think today I played against an opponent with a great future in front of him. I just tried to be there, be solid all the time without taking a lot of risks.
“It labored effectively. I’m completely satisfied to be by way of and I want him (Blanch) all the easiest for the longer term.”
De Minaur and Jordan Thompson, who both enjoyed first-round byes, will be joined by another Sydneysider in the second round after Max Purcell enjoyed a fine comeback win over American Marcos Giron 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) on Thursday.
It was a tense affair with the Australian world No.80 rewarded for perhaps being the more daring and ambitious of the evenly-matched pair when it came to the final-set tiebreak.
Purcell, who had been robbed by some bad luck late in the set, finally got a lucky break of his own at the beginning of that tiebreak when his forehand into the net plopped apologetically off the cord and over for a winner that set him on the road to victory in two-and-a-quarter hours.
In the next round, he’ll face American 25th seed Sebastian Korda, who hasn’t been making waves of late while his superstar sister Nelly has been dominating the golfing world with five LPGA victories in a row.
Hopes of extra Australian curiosity within the second spherical had been scuppered when Chris O’Connell was effectively overwhelmed 6-4 6-1 by Matteo Arnaldi, who had featured within the Italian workforce that beat Lleyton Hewitt’s workforce within the ultimate of final 12 months’s Davis Cup.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
