Is any clay-court record safe from Rafael Nadal? Perhaps that's a silly question, this late into the Spaniard's domination on the red dirt.
The Mallorca native set yet another Open-Era clay-court mark on Wednesday during his Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell opener against countryman and Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena.
The No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings won his 37th and 38th consecutive sets on clay, breaking a tie with former No. 1 Ilie Nastase of Romania. Nadal also extended his clay-court match-wins streak to 15, which includes his Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title run last week.
Clay-Court Sets Win Streaks
|
Sets |
Player |
Year(s) |
|
38 |
Rafael Nadal |
2017-18 |
|
36 |
Ilie Nastase |
1973 |
|
35 |
Guillermo Coria |
2003-04 |
|
32 |
Rafael Nadal |
2010-11 |
|
31 |
Rafael Nadal |
2007-08 |
|
30 |
Rafael Nadal |
2012 |
|
30 |
Rafael Nadal |
2006-07 |
Nadal has now won 54 of his 57 matches played in Barcelona, where he is going for his 11th title at the ATP World Tour 500 event (2005-09, 2011-13 and 2016-17). The 31-year-old celebrated his 11th Monte-Carlo title last week, becoming the first player to win a tournament 11 times.
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He was challenged at times against Carballes Baena, who brought positive energy and a willingness to fight on Pista Rafa Nadal. The 25-year-old from Granada saved two set points at 5-4 in the first set and had an opportunity to break back. But Nadal erased the break point and clinched the opening set with a forehand drop shot.
In the second, the two traded breaks and were on serve at 4-3, but Nadal broke again and served out the second-round contest to love. The 10-time Barcelona champion will next meet countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the third round. The veteran right-hander advanced after 14th seed Kei Nishikori, who lost to Nadal in the Monte-Carlo final on Sunday, retired down 3-6.
Open Era Clay-Court Leaders
|
1) Rafael Nadal |
397-35 |
.919 |
|
2) Bjorn Borg |
251-41 |
.860 |
|
3) Ivan Lendl |
327-76 |
.811 |
|
4) Guillermo Vilas |
659-162 |
.803 |
|
5) Novak Djokovic |
190-49 |
.795 |
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2JsfnfV
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