Rafael Nadal got off to a perfect start on Wednesday in Monte-Carlo, where he seeks a record-extending 12th trophy. The Spanish superstar looked in strong form in a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 victory over Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis over 81 minutes at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
In his first match since 17 February, when he fell to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open quarter-finals, Nadal struck 16 winners to beat Delbonis. The 34-year-old Nadal is now 72-5 at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where he won an Open-Era record eight successive titles from 2005 to 2012 and a further three straight crowns from 2016 to 2018.
“It was solid match," said Nadal. "Of course, a very positive result. He's a good player on clay... Nothing unbelievable, but nothing wrong. Just a solid match, a positive start. I think I did what I had to do today."
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Nadal will next play Monte-Carlo resident and No. 14 seed, Grigor Dimitrov, who saved six of seven break points in a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Jeremy Chardy of France in one hour and 42 minutes earlier on Wednesday afternoon. Nadal leads Dimitrov 13-1 in their ATP Head2Head series, including wins in their three matches at this clay-court tournament (2013, 2018-19).
"We've had some great matches," said Nadal. "In Melbourne, of course... We played another great match in Beijing, another one in Shanghai. He's a good friend, a good guy, and a great player. It's going to be a tough test in my second round. It's going to be his third. I need to be ready for it. I hope to be ready for it. I am just excited to play a tough match very early in the tournament."
Graphic courtesy Hawk-Eye Innovations/ATP Media
Third seed Nadal, who is normally used to competing in front of a capacity 10,200 fans on Court Rainier III each year, started with a bang, breaking Delbonis in his first service game after a backhand error. The World No. 87 continued to come under pressure, forced deep behind the baseline in bruising baseline rallies. Consecutive double faults from Delbonis handed Nadal a 4-0 advantage. Nadal completed the 30-minute first set with a forehand.
There was no let-up from Nadal in the early stages of the second set. The Spaniard won 10 of 12 points en route to a 3-0 lead, but his dominance was halted in the next game. Delbonis broke serve on his fourth break point, when a Nadal backhand hit the net and bounced wide, and went on to recover to 2-3. As groundstroke errors continued to mount for Delbonis, Nadal broke for a fifth time at 4-2. He is now 5-0 lifetime against Delbonis in their ATP Head2Head series.
Delbonis, 30, had been seeking to record the biggest win of his career since overcoming then No. 2-ranked Andy Murray at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. He is now 3-16 lifetime against Top 10 opponents.
Did You Know?
Nadal is 446-40 lifetime on clay-courts since turning professional in 2001. Only Argentina's Guillermo Vilas (681) and Spain's Manuel Orantes (569) have won more matches on red dirt in the Open Era (since 1968).
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3abihFw
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