Rafael Nadal tactically overpowered Nicolas Mahut to advance to the quarterfinals at the Miami Open with a 6-4 7-6(4) victory.
It was pretty simple what Nicolas Mahut’s gameplay was before entering his third meeting with Rafael Nadal. Serve big to the Rafa forehand and finish points off at the net. After all the Frenchman was the world number one in doubles and would use his expertise from doubles and transfer it onto the singles court. For most of the set this worked with great success as Nadal, despite brilliant reflexes, failed to make inroads.
However Rafa served well himself and he eventually found the formula to break the Frenchman in the ninth game. The topspin down low to the Mahut forehand volley, would leave gaps on the backhand side. The Spaniard finished with a floury to grab the first set 6-4.
The second set saw the world number 55 stick to his brave game plan to great success. There was no runaway train from the Spanish matador as he was quite comfortable playing from the back of the court. Miscued backhand returns into the net allowed Mahut to hold comfortably. Nadal found range on serve and started to dictate play with his forehand, high was causing chaos for the doubles specialist.
These two elements levelled each other out and the second set would go to a tiebreak on a hot afternoon in Miami. Despite the early minibreak, the match swung away from Mahut as Nadal would pass the Wimbledon doubles champion for fun. The topspin passes, especially on the backhand side were starting to reap the rewards. Another forehand sealed a tactically comfortable victory for Nadal.
The gameplan was simple from Nadal, lure the Frenchman into the net and then fall into the Rafa topspin trap. Although his lobs were not up to scratch it didn’t matter he did enough to secure victory after 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Not all good news for Nadal?
Despite his win it was not a win that fulfilled with confidence. You can see why Nadal struggles against Federer recently, the Spaniard couldn’t deal with the early backhand strike. The serve out wide at times caught Nadal off guard. Against a player who hits heavy ball, he could be in trouble.
Rafael Nadal will hope to play much better against a confident Jack Sock tomorrow night in his quarterfinal match. However for now Team Nadal will be pleased with his tactical performance today.
