World No.1 Rafael Nadal has made a winning start to the Rogers Cup in Montreal by defeating France’s Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-3, in the second round.
The top seed endured a far from straightforward clash, despite the seemingly easy scoreline. Nadal dropped serve three consecutive times in the second set as well as once in the first. He also produced nine winners to 10 unforced errors during his 74-minute clash with the world No.55.
“I think I played a solid match. It’s true that with myself in the second set I had some troubles, but my return worked well.” Nadal commented about his performance.
“it was not about the serve. It was more about the mistakes from the baseline in my opinion.”
Wednesday was the first time Nadal has played a competitive hard court match since the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. His preparations for the US Open swing has been fairly minimal compared to recent years. After his run to the semi-finals, the Spaniard opted to take a break from the sport before starting his hard court training. Referring to the grass season as the ‘toughest period of the year’ for him both mentally and physically.
“I feel that of course I was not at my 100% today (Wednesday). But at the same time it’s true that it’s impossible, no?” Nadal said during his press conference.
“After a while, you need matches. It’s true that I have done good work here (in Montreal) over the last five days, but at the same time it’s true that I didn’t work very hard at home. I just did the basics to come back to the competition.”
This week, Nadal is gunning for his fourth Rogers Cup title after winning the title in 2005, 2008 and 2013. In the next round, he faces an intriguing clash with three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss player saved four match points to edge out Marton Fucsovics 1-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(10), in a marathon encounter.
“It’s a match that we played, you know, two times in a Grand Slam final. It’s going to be an important and a tough match for both of us.” Nadal said about the upcoming clash.
Nadal has a winning 16-3 head-to-head record against Wawrinka. It will be their second meeting at the Rogers Cup. Their first occurred back in 2010 when the Spaniard prevailed in straight sets. Wawrinka’s last win over Nadal was at the 2015 Paris Masters.
