In front of the audience at the Caja Magica in Madrid, Rafael Nadal manages to find revenge against Alex de Minaur after the defeat in Barcelona, where the Australian had shown a better condition, especially mentally. The Spaniard, who appeared to perform a little better in the aforementioned period of time, managed to win in just over two hours by 7-6(6) 6-3, and in the third round of the Masters 1000 in the Spanish capital he will find the surprising Argentine Pedro Cachinwho after 15 consecutive match defeats won two here, against the Austrian Sebastian Ofner before and against the USA Frances Tiafoe Then.
Particular atmosphere on the power station named after Manolo Santana. And not just for the match: before the match, the graphic designer Sergio Delgado, brutally killed in February in Burgos, is remembered with a minute’s silence.
Once the pitch starts talking, the first 15 is from de Minaur, which however appears very contracted in the atmosphere around it. He essentially suffers it, and this is also what leads Nadal (though in slightly better conditions than Barcelona) to the first break of the match. At 2-0 15-30 a ball considered long by the Mallorcan following a backhand return by the Australian is scored as such by the 14-time Roland Garros champion. Problem: now the challenge must be called, Nadal doesn’t know it and discusses it with Fergus Murphy who points it out to him. The ball was actually out, but the two break points still come and go just as quickly. However, there is a third, transformed and which enters into the wake of a series of 5 points in a row by de Minaur.
The Aussie doesn’t stop, he continues to grind out excellent tennis and, at 3-3, he breaks Nadal’s serve again, and does it to zero, but trembles in the next game: double fault at 30-30 and counterbreak ball, on the which one misses with a backhand. We reach the tie-break, in which the minibreak immediately arrives in favor of the Spaniard, even with the complicity of the Australian who fails badly on a couple of points that are certainly not difficult. The Australian quickly understands what it means, in such a context, to give space to Nadal, who plays two valuable points, goes to 5-2 and then 6-2. The Iberian, however, commits a double fault, and it is above all his errors in width that cause de Minaur to return at 6-6. An unusual cross-court backhand from the Spaniard causes the fifth set point, then the Aussie misses a forehand and it’s 8-6.
The second set opens with an immediate break in favor of the Majorcan, who takes advantage of the fact that, on the other side, his opponent didn’t take all the first’s facts very well. De Minaur’s difficulties become many, but somehow he manages to hang on to the match even with the help of some errors from Nadal. The Australian wastes a lot at 2-3, not realizing a 0-30, with the game ending by virtue of an uncatchable cross-court backhand from Nadal. The Spaniard ends up finding some numbers from his old era, with which he ends up having two match points. The second is enough for him, also because de Minaur delivers himself with a double fault emblematic of a performance far below his standard.
The winners-free errors account in this case offers an effective collaboration in commenting on the match: 18-33 for de Minaur, 16-20 for Nadal. For the left-handed player from Manacor the best news comes from the 73% of firsts on the pitch and the 71% of points won with the same.
