Yesterday’s solutions: Across:
1 Disciple. 5 Atrium. 10 Stamp. 11 Raconteur. 12 Segregate. 13 Cello. 14 Exotic. 16 Cortège. 20 Gazelle. 21 Frieze. 24 Negus. 26 Sandstone. 28 Intuitive. 29 Infer. 30 Monkey. 31 Reveille.
Down: 1 Disaster. 2 Slang. 3 Imprecise. 4 Lariat. 6 Tunic. 7 Ideologue. 8 Maroon. 9 Echelon. 15 Orangutan. 17 Turnstile. 18 Elastic. 19 Rehearse. 22 Infirm. 23 Annexe. 25 Smile. 27 Offal.
RAFAEL Nadal defied his gloomy injury prognosis and complete lack of match practice to crush Laslo Djere 6-3 6-4 6-1 yesterday and reach the Australian Open second round as he launched his bid for a record 21st grand slam title.
The Spanish great had pulled out of his nation's ATP Cup campaign with a back problem and was bordering on mournful on the eve on the grand slam when he said the injury was still affecting him.
Yet he was close to his all-action, fist-pumping best as he bounced around a sun-bathed Rod Laver Arena in the final set against Djere and painted the lines with trademark top-spin bombs.
"It's been a tough 15 days for me," said 2009 champion Nadal. "I needed to survive today so that's what I did.
"I'm still alive and that's the main thing."
Second seed Nadal said his back was still bothering him against world number 56 Djere, the Spaniard's first match since losing in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in November.
"Today it's not great. I needed to change a little bit the motion of my serve. That's what I tried to survive that condition today," said the 34-year-old.
"I need to go day-to-day and just try to stay positive."
Sharing the all-time grand slam title record with Roger Federer, Nadal has not been able to add to his 2009 championship at Melbourne Park, despite four trips to the final.
A string of injuries have hurt his chances in Melbourne through the years, which threetime Australian Open champion Mats Wilander put down to the relative punishment of honing his high-energy game on hardcourts in the off-season.
"It could be a combination of hard courts and practising, needs more repetition and pushes himself hard," the Eurosport pundit said.
"This is Rafa Nadal, this is what he has done throughout his whole career and he is going to push himself to the limit."
Nadal said he hoped to last as long as he could in Australia, where people have regained most of their pre-pandemic freedom after containing Covid-19.
Nadal had "no parties for one year already", at home in Spain.
"Here (people) are in a different situation. They are able to stay together. They are able to go out and have fun and be a lot of people together in one place, so it's a different story than what we are facing.
"We dream about being back to that situation."
Meanwhile world number one women Ashleigh Barty doled out the dreaded “double bagel” to Danka Kovinic in the first round of the Australian Open yesterday, humiliating the errorprone Montenegrin 6-0 6-0 on Rod Laver Arena.
Barty, looking to become the first homegrown champion at the grand slam since 1978, won the first 16 points of the onesided contest and never looked back, wrapping up the win in 44 minutes.
“This is what it’s all about, this is incredible,” the Australian said to cheers from the crowd.
“It’s impossible not to enjoy a night session on this beautiful court.”
Next up for Barty is a second-round match against local wildcard Daria Gavrilova.
ORLANDO Pirates silenced their critics yesterday with a two-goal opening blitz that stunned Cape Town City at Orlando Stadium.
The Buccaneers have been under pressure recently from their own supporters due to their indifferent Premiership form, which has ranged from a derby win over Kaizer Chiefs followed by a defeat to Golden Arrows.
But despite the lack of a fit striker in their squad, Pirates raced out of the starting blocks through a first-minute goal by the ever reliable Deon Hotto yesterday.
The Namibian international midfielder ran onto a through ball that caught the high-lying City defence flat footed and calmly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh.
Before City could even recover from the shock of conceding an early goal, the visitors were again picking up the ball from their own net.
City coach Jan Olde Riekerink would have been tearing his hair out at the way his team's defence was unravelling with Vincent Pule tapping home from close range for Pirates' second goal just four minutes after the opener.
Bouyed by the two-goal advantage, the Sea Robbers settled comfortably into their rhythm with Thembinkosi Lorch almost adding a third midway through the first half, but Leeuwenburgh was up to the task on this occasion.
Olde Riekerink’s halftime talk must have been of the "hairdryer" type for City came out with renewed vigour after the interval.
But the usually free-scoring visitors were enduring a rare off day in front of goal, exemplified by captain Thabo Nodada's glaring second-half miss.
Nodada, who just this week signed a new long-term contract with City, had a gaping goal to aim at, but ballooned his shot over the bar.
Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer may be pleased with the eventual outcome, but he will still not be satisfied with his team's inability to kill off the opposition.
With City pushing forward as they attempted to get back into the game, there were gaping holes for Pirates to exploit but they failed to add to their early advantage with Lorch being among the primary culprits.