NADAL SLOW STORM

RAFA NADAL was hit by a time violation by his least favourite umpire before his match – and then claimed he didn’t notice.

Brazilian official Carlos Bernardes first fell out with the world No.1 in 2015. This time he gave Nadal a time warning for staying in his chair too long. The two-time champ received another before the third set of his 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin. But Nadal said: “I received two time violations? First news about that. I needed that time to change.”

Last year’s runner-up Marin Cilic (left) crashed 3-6 1-6 6-4 7-6 7-5 to Guido Pella.