Top seed Rafael Nadal has kicked-off his bid for a first title of 2020 in Acapulco this week with a straight sets win on Tuesday.
The world No.2, who is playing in his first tournament since the Australian Open, required exactly 90 minutes to see off compatriot Pablo Andujar 6-3, 6-2. At the start of the match Nadal dropped serve to fall behind 0-2 before turning his fortunes around with the help of a eight-game winning streak. Overall, he won 65% of his service points and broke Andujar five times in total.
“The most important thing when you have not competed for a while is to win, I needed a match like today to get in rhythm and gain some confidence,” AFP news quoted Nadal as saying after.
Despite the seemingly straightforward score, Nadal admits that it wasn’t a perfect performance from him. Something he puts down to not playing on the tour for a couple of weeks. He has now played 12 singles matches on the ATP Tour so far this season and has won nine of them. He suffered two losses at the ATP Cup to David Goffin and Djokovic. Then at the Australian Open he fell to Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals.
“It was an awkward first round game,” Nadal said. “I had not competed for a while and the temperature change is drastic enough… but I am happy with the victory.”
The 33-year-old is already a two-time champion in Mexico after previously winning the title in 2005 and 2013, when the tournament was played on clay. Should he prevail again this year, he could return back to world No.1 next week depending on how rival Novak Djokovic fairs in Dubai. The only way he can return to the top is if Djokovic fails to reach the semifinals of his tournament and Nadal wins his.
In the second round, Nadal will face Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanović, who defeated Alex de Minaur in his opening match on Monday. It will be the first ever meeting between the two, but Nadal is wary about the threat he potentially faces. Kecmanović is a former world No.1 junior player and reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells last year.
“He is a good player, he has a good right and it will be difficult. It is always difficult to play against young people because they have a special energy and I must be prepared.” Nadal previewed.
Zverev through, but injured Kyrgios quits
Also joining Nadal in the second round will be Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who also experienced a testing start to his opening match. The world No.7 recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the first set to edge out Jason Jung 7-6(6), 6-1. Despite the blip, Zverev was still impressive behind his serve. Firing 12 aces past Jung and winning 84% of his first service points.
“I mean it was expected, it’s my first match back after Australia I think, you know, it’s never easy.” Said Zverev.
“Obviously, you can play well while training, but during the match it’s different, here I already played 2 matches this week, but at the end I’m happy I went through.”
Zverev is doing double duty in Mexico this week. He is also playing in the doubles with his brother Mischa in a bid to win the title for a second consecutive year. They started their bid on Monday with a straight sets win over American qualifiers Jackson Withrow and Nicolas Monroe.
In the second round of the singles tournament, Zverev will play 22-year-old Tommy Paul.
One notable name to exit that tournament in the first round is 2019 champion Nick Kyrgios. The Australian was forced to retire from his match against Ugo Humbert due to a wrist injury that had recently seen him miss a series of tournaments. Kyrgios took a medical time out when trailing 1-4 to have taping placed on his left wrist. He continued to play for a few more games before calling it quits after dropping the first set 6-3.
Despite his physical problem, Kyrgios received a hostile reaction from the crowd as he was booed off the court.
https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1232533024987926528
The barrage of boos from the crowd drew a bemused response from the former top 20 player, who said he ‘doesn’t give a f*ck’ whilst speaking to the media in his press conference.
“I couldn’t give a f—. I literally couldn’t give a f—,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m not healthy, I tried to come here, I tried to play.
“I’ve been doing media for the tournament, I’ve tried to help out.”
Elaborating further, Kyrgios put things into perspective when looking at the wider picture back in his home country. Australia has been badly affected by deadly bushfires in recent months that have destroyed hectares of land.
“It’s tough. I am injured but people with the fires lost their lives and their homes,” Kyrgios added.
“I have got a sore left wrist so it doesn’t really compare to what is going on back home.”
Humbert, who won his maiden ATP title in Auckland last month, will play Taylor Fritz in the next round.
