There was little to fear for the army of Rafael Nadal fans at the Caja Magica as the former champion cruised past Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3,6-3, in his first match at the Madrid Open.
Playing in a packed Manolo Santana court, one of the biggest tennis venues in the world, the four-time champion was flawless in his serving throughout the opening set. The world No.5 lost just service two points compared to his opponents 13. Kuznetsov, who produced a season best win over 16th seed Viktor Troicki in the first round, kept fighting throughout, but was no match to Nadal’s Superiority on the clay.
The pressure from Nadal continued throughout the second set as Kuznetsov battled valiantly to keep within contention. Grabbing back-to-back breaks of service, Nadal cruised to the win after only 79 minutes of play.
The dominance of Nadal in the match was clearly illustrated with his serve as he won 85% of first service points as well as 100% of his second (an overall record of 88%). Discussing his win, the nine-time champion has insisted that a good serve is the key to the title in Madrid.
“The serve is, depending on which tournament, not always decisive, but in this tournament it is. Whoever serves well here is going to do well,” Nadal said.
” I think I have been solid with my serve. I obtained a lot of results. I have to try to keep the percentage up.”
Besides his outstanding serving, he also produced four aces, 22 winners and nine unforced errors in what was an impressive opening performance.
Nadal enters the Madrid Masters full of confidence after winning back-to-back titles in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. The latest triumph in Madrid has elevated Nadal’s win-loss in the tournament to 15-1 since 2013. It is also his 23rd win of the season.
In the third round, he will play either Sam Querrey or French qualifier Lucas Pouille. The third round encounter will be a tough task regardless of the opponent according to Nadal.
“I’ll just follow my path and I know that Pouille in the next round comes from playing really well in the final in Bucharest. Querrey is a player that plays very well and the altitude suits him a lot,” Nadal said.
“They’re both very tough players, so this is what I worry about. I don’t worry about anything else right now.”
