
Rafael Nadal sealed his place into the third round of Wimbledon after a 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin.
The Spaniard had dominated their previous meetings and this showed in the opening stages of the first as he took three tight games for a 3-0 lead. The world number one’s opponent was no stranger to a grass court though having reached the semi-finals of Eastbourne last week and used big hitting shots to gain back the momentum as he levelled the set at 3-3.
The match had seen some long rallies as Nadal turned this into a more tactical battle as this was not your typical grass court contest. The 30 year old Kazakh played some really good pressure points as he refused to hand the advantage over to Nadal. However the scoreboard pressure was too much for Kukushkin as the second seed broke to seal the first set in 49 minutes.
The second set was more straight forward for the two time Wimbledon champion as some brilliant net play and brutal forehands helped him break for a 3-1 lead. Despite the deficit the world number 77 continued to search for answers as he hoped his relatively big serve would help him break down Nadal. In the end though, the Spaniard sealed a two sets to love lead as victory was in sight.
The 17 time grand slam champion hasn’t done that well at Wimbledon in recent years and it was easy to see why as Nadal faced multiple break points in the third set. The duo shared breaks in games four and five as the Kazakh found some success on Nadal’s serve. Eventually some insane quality from Nadal saw him break and celebrate as he booked his place into the third round.