Fought first round victory
Defending champion Nadal starts with difficulty
Rafael Nadal is in action on the first day of the Australian Open. The defending champion has to show a lot of patience until he can be happy about entering the second round.
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Rafael Nadal makes a successful start to the Australian Open.
The roles are actually clearly divided in the first round duel between Rafael Nadal (ATP 2) and Jack Draper (ATP 38). Anything but a victory for the 36-year-old defending champion against the 21-year-old up-and-coming Briton would have been a sensation.
It doesn’t get that far, but Nadal has to fight more at the start of the Australian Open than he would like. In the end he confidently prevailed 7: 5, 2: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1.
Draper with a total slump
After the hard-fought opening set, Draper turned up the heat. He literally runs over Nadal, also because he makes too many mistakes. And gets the second pass. After that, the Brit, who is one of the best unseeded players in Melbourne, played well and made up for a 1:4 deficit in the third set. But then he collapses completely. He has to have his thigh massaged several times, and towards the end of the game he doesn’t even jump up when he serves. So he no longer has a chance to assert himself.
After 3:41 hours, Nadal uses his first match point. And celebrates the first win of the year. At the United Cup he had lost his two singles. Mackenzie McDonald (ATP 65) is now waiting for Nadal in the second round. The American prevailed in the first round in five sets against compatriot Brandon Nakashima (ATP 49). (bir)