ATP Barcelona, ​​Rafael Nadal returns in style. Arnaldi saves himself, Rublev still eliminated

The curtain has fallen on day 2 of the ATP500 in Barcelona, ​​or rather on “Rafa Nadal day”. Yes, because Rafa’s return to the pitch inevitably attracted the attention of fans in Catalonia and beyond. We wondered what the performance of the champion native of Manacor would have been, remembering his last match played on the Brisbane hard courts in the first stirrings of 2024.

The Majorcan ace has been able to put behind him the physical problems that are significantly affecting this phase of his career, leaving just five games to Flavio Cobolli. The Roman tennis player is very tense and emotional, in the presence of one of his idols. Many errors for the Italian, with a Nadal who instead rose in level exchange after exchange and was also able to afford not to force the serve too much. With the score of 6-2 6-3 the curtain has fallen and in the next round it will be interesting to understand his condition against the Australian Alex de Minaur (No. 11 in the world).

Another Italian on the pitch was Matteo Arnaldi. Our standard bearer returned to where he obtained his first victory at ATP level and today n.32 came to fruition. A crazy match against the Argentine Sebastian Baezin which the Ligurian canceled well four match pointswinning with the score of 5-7 7-6 (8) 6-2. On his path there will be the winner of the match between the Chilean in the round of 16 Nicolas Jarry (n.22 in the ranking) and the Argentine Marco Trungelliti (world no.197).

The elimination of the Russian Andrey Rublev caused a sensation. For the Muscovite it is the fourth consecutive knockout in the top circuit, which highlights his difficulties. The American Brandon Nakashima (no. 87 in the ranking) won against the no. 8 ATP by 6-4 7-6 (6) and in the round of 16 he will face the no. 13 seed, Tomas Martin Etcheverrywho got the better of the Dominican Nick Hardt (world no. 229) 7-5 6-2.

We also know the name of Lorenzo Musetti’s next opponent (seeded n.10). The Tuscan will face the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, finalist in Marrakech this year and beaten by Matteo Berrettini. The Iberian (n.72 in the ranking) prevailed against the transalpine Hugo Grenier (n.159 ATP) for 6-2 6-4.

Cameron Norrie and Tomas Macha also continue on the pathc. The Briton (world no. 31) took advantage of the Frenchman’s withdrawal Harold Mayot (n.116 in the ranking), after the situation in the score was tied: first set won by Norrie 7-6 (3) and the second by the French 7-6 (6). The tennis player from the United Kingdom awaits the name of the winner of the challenge between the lucky loser, Andrea Vavassori, and Spanish Roberto Bautista Agut. Machac (ranked n.50) prevailed against the talented Chinese Juncheng Shang (n.114 in the ranking) 6-4 6-4 and will challenge the 11th seed in the second round, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning the elimination of the Croatian Borna Coric (no. 32 in the world) at the hands of the Argentine Facundo Diaz Costa (n.53 ATP) by 6-2 7-5. The South American will face the winner of the match between the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan and French Luca van Assche.