The Balearic will face Kyrgios for a place in the quarterfinals
Verdasco says goodbye to Zverev
MADRID, Jan. 25 (SportsFinding)
The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal qualified without problems for the round of 16 of the Australian Open, the first 'Grand Slam' of the season, after winning with great authority to his compatriot Pablo Carreño in three sets by 6-1, 6-2 , 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes, and will face local Nick Kyrgios in the next round.
The Balearic got into the top 16 of the tournament for the thirteenth time in his career after a very solid encounter against the Spaniard, who never had options and never found a way to subtract to disturb his rival.
The world number one did not grant a single ball of breakage in the second round to the Argentine Federico Delbonis and repeated benefits with the service before his partner, before which he only lost ten points with his serve, half between the two placid first sleeves .
But also, after complaining a little about the heaviness of the balls in his previous ball and what it cost him to hurt, Nadal found, helped by playing in the afternoon, finally more rhythm with his punches and overwhelmed Carreño with a total of 42 winners, with its 'drive' offering this time its best version, and also reducing to only seven unforced errors.
The Gijón player, seeded number 27 and eighth finalist in Melbourne in 2018 and 2019, achieved half of 'winners' and was able to plant some 'battle' when he got first services because with his second serve he suffered a lot against Manacor, much more successful than before Delbonis to take advantage of his options of breakage (5/10).
The game did not have much history in the first two sets and in less than an hour Nadal already had his ticket on track by the round of 16 with only three games lost. The Spaniard tried to be stronger with his service in the third, but the Balearic did not pass the only loophole he had in the fifth game to achieve his fifth and final 'break' and put the direct towards the eighth.
There he will face, on Monday, the Australian Nick Kyrgios, with whom he has had several crossings of declarations and before which he will face a tense duel with the public against. However, the local tennis player will arrive more tired after having to resort to the fifth set and the 'tie-break' to break the Russian Karen Khachanov (6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 6- 7 (7), 7-6 (8)).
The first two sets won did not offer the necessary peace of mind to the world number 26, which saw how the 17 of the ATP ranking got into the match after taking the next two sleeves in the tie-break.
And it had to be again the sudden death that dictated sentence in the final partial, after both defended their services without giving up a single chance of breakage. Kyrgios was 3-0 ahead, but Khachanov managed to flip the score; two 'mini-breaks' in the final stretch allowed Canberra to win after almost four and a half hours of play.
Nadal will seek to improve his balance of 4-3 against the Australian; the last time the faces were seen, last year in Wimbledon, Manacor managed to prevail (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3)).
ZVEREV BRAKE TO VERDASCO
For his part, Fernando Verdasco has said goodbye to the oceanic 'big' before the world number seven, in German Alexander Zverev, who gave no option to the Madrid player in a match he finished in less than two hours (6-2, 6- 2, 6-4).
A 0-4 exit lasted Verdasco's options in the first set, in which he wasted a 'break' ball in the second game; the German sealed with his serve the victory in the partial before starting with a 2-0 the second sleeve.
The 51st ATP ranking resisted a break ball from Zverev in the fifth game, but could not take advantage of it to break the other two times in the next. The German tennis player, on the other hand, used another 'break' to get the game on track.
It was not until the sixth game of the third round when the Spaniard finally broke his opponent, who responded with a 'counterbreak' that began the series of four games won consecutively. With this, Zverev meets the Russian Andrey Rublev in eighths.