The Spanish Rafael Nadal advanced to the second round of the 2020 Mexican Tennis Open that is played in the Acapulco resort, on Tuesday after beating his compatriot Pablo Andújar in the first phase.
Nadal, number 2 in the world and first seed of the tournament, beat Andújar, who is in box 54 of the ATP ranking, in two sets with partials of 6-3 and 6-2 in one hour and 30 minutes and 41 seconds.
“The most important thing when you haven’t competed for a while is to win, I needed a game like today to get into the rhythm and gain a bit of confidence,” Nadal said at the end of the game.
Nadal took to the court trying to impose his service and play aggressively, but Andújar was very concentrated.
If the points became long, Pablo resisted while Rafa struggled to sharpen his aim.
Andújar broke Nadal’s serve at the first opportunity and confirmed the break to take a 2-0 lead.
After approaching 2-1, ‘La Fiera’ slowed down and looked more comfortable on the field. Thus he gained precision and rallied 3-2.
As the game progressed, Nadal played with more certainty and Andújar began to make mistakes.
The manacorí increased the effectiveness of his first serve to 69 percent, he was dominant from the bottom of the court and ended up taking the first set in 47 minutes and 41 seconds.
Nadal headed for victory from the start of the second set by breaking his rival’s serve. Rafa confirmed the break and broke again.
Fully subdued Andújar showed self-esteem to recover one of the two breaks and move closer to 4-2.
Although Nadal’s first serve effectiveness fell to 59 percent, the Spaniard took the win with five breaks.
“It was an uncomfortable first round as always, I had not competed for a while and the temperature change is drastic enough to adapt to the conditions, but I am happy with the victory,” Nadal told a press conference.
On Wednesday in the second round, Nadal will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic who made his presentation on Monday with a victory over Australian Alex de Miñaur.
Manacor’s ‘La Fiera’ is looking for its third title at the Mexican Tennis Open. The previous ones were achieved in the 2005 and 2013 editions. AF