Apr 27, 2024, 12:51 ET
Rafa Nadal recovered his level and continues to advance in Madrid. Triumph for the Spaniard against Alex De Minaur to continue advancing. The Spaniard extended his stay in the Spanish capital after beating the Australian Alex de Miñaur in the second round 7-6 (6) and 6-3, in two hours and two minutes of the game.
Nadal’s celebration after beating De Minaur at the Madrid Masters 1000. getty
Nadal, a five-time winner in Madrid, who faces his third tournament in 2024, entered the third round of the competition and will face the Argentine Pedro Cachín, executioner of the American Frances Tiafoe.
Rafael Nadal once again achieved the unthinkable: once again surviving a contrary situation, remaining in the tournament and ruining the entire farewell ‘party’.
This time, he finished with the Australian Alex de Miñaur (7-6(6) and 6-3), a tennis player with whom he succumbed ten days ago, in a bad way, in Barcelona, at the Conde de Godó. There, Nadal, who faced the second leg of his second tournament of 2024, maintained his style in the first set, but resigned from the second.
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But this was the Nadal’s first victory against a Top 20 since November 2022 and prevented De Minaur from becoming the second player to beat Nadal in consecutive weeks after Djokovic in 2011, in Madrid and Rome, he arrived in two hours and two minutes to meet him in the third round with the Argentine Pedro Cachín.
Nadal has recorded his first victory against a top-20 since defeated Casper Ruud in the 2022 ATP Finals. It is his 335th victory against an opponent of this rank and his 163rd in a Masters 1000 tournament.
An aroma of farewell invaded the day. The Magic Box, the Manolo Santana track. King Felipe VI did not miss the appointment. The last in appearance of Rafael Nadal in Madrid. The elite of Spanish sports were present, personalities from society. Nobody wanted to miss the presumed farewell to the man who has been everything in world sport. But he moved forward.
“I have had many difficult months. On a personal and professional level and thinking with the hope of living an afternoon like this. Thank you all very much,” he said on the track.
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But Nadal demands more. “There is room for improvement. For me it means a lot to have been able to play the entire game; last week I couldn’t do it and I played more than two hours and I also have the possibility of being able to play on this court again,” he said.
Argentine Pedro Cachín is waiting. “I have never played against him. He is a tough tennis player and after a difficult period it seems that he has resurfaced. But the important thing is to play here again. It means everything.”