Title holder Zverev reaches 3rd round, Nadal returns with Madrid win
ALEXANDER Zverev avoided another early exit on Wednesday when he started his Madrid Open title defence with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback victory against former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Third seeded Zverev wrapped up the second-round game, after a bye in the opening round, with an ace after 2 hours 17 minutes. He had earlier lost four games in a row to concede the first set after leading by a break.
Zverev next meets American Sebastian Korda or Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.
The 2021 Olympic champion is yet to win a title this year and last week went out in his first match at the Munich tournament where he said the pressure had been a different one.
“I am happy about the victory,” Zverev told Sky TV. “Munich is home, you are playing in Germany. Here everyone is happy to see Rafa [Nadal] and [Carlos] Alcarez. The tournament in Munich was built for me to advance far. So you can’t really compare it.”
Rafael Nadal won his first match back on the ATP Tour, defeating a spirited Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1, 7-6 in Madrid. Nadal started the season on a high note, winning the Melbourne Summer Set, the Australian Open, and Acapulco
before suffering a rib injury in the Indian Wells semi-finals. TThat injury sidelined him for about six weeks, delaying the start of his clay season, which is traditionally the strongest part of the Spaniard’s year.
Despite a rain delay in Madrid, he showed little rust as he dismissed Serbian Kecmanovic.
Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie, who made British tennis history on Wednesday, join Nadal in the last 16. Evans and Norrie made it three Brits in a clay Masters 1000 event for the first time in history, joining Andy Murray in the last 16. Evans had to fight his way back from the brink of elimination, defeating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 5-7, 7-6. His prize is a match against world number eight Andrey Rublev. Meanwhile, Norrie will face rising star Carlos Alcaraz after defeating big-serving American John Isner 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.