Progress for Djokovic in Madrid
● Straight-sets win over World No 20 Nishikori is big step in right direction
Novak Djokovic notched an encouraging win in his comeback from a right elbow injury when he beat Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the Madrid Open yesterday.
Djokovic broke serve late in each set to defeat World No 20 Nishikori after nearly two hours in the Magic Box.
Djokovic hasn’t made it to the quarter-finals in his previous five tournaments this year, and has admitted he returned to tennis too quickly. In his last event, he lost in the third round in Monte Carlo, where Nishikori reached the final.
Djokovic made 26 winners against the Japanese, who has reached at least the quarterfinals for the last five years in Madrid. He reached the final in 2014, losing to Rafael Nadal.
“The draw was such that we had to face in the first round, which is a bit strange,” Djokovic said. “But it was a good opening match.”
Maria Sharapova, who won in Madrid in 2014, made it to the last 16 by defeating Irinacamelia Begu 7-5, 6-1 in only her second match since the Australian Open. She has been dealing with a left forearm injury.
“It was a lot of hard work,” Sharapova said of her match. “Being down a break to start off both of those sets didn’t make things easy for me. That will certainly help me moving forward.”
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki edged past Ashleigh Barty 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Wozniacki reached the 2009 final on her debut and hasn’t been close since.
“I was lucky to get away with it in that third set,” the secondseeded Wozniacki said.
Milos Raonic defeated Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second-round encounter with third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, while Richard Gasquet beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2 to advance to play qualifier Dusan Lajovic, who got past Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2.
In a first-round match between Frenchmen, Benoit Paire hit 39 winners to defeat 18th-ranked Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3, advancing to face 19-yearold Denis Shapovalov of Canada, who got past Tennys Sandgren of the USA 6-1, 6-4.
Nadal, meanwhile, has put himself in the middle of a soccer controversy in Madrid.
A long-standing Real Madrid supporter, Nadal appeared with a Atletico Madrid jersey during the club’s Europa League match against Arsenal last week, making headlines across Spain and attracting a wave of social media reactions from fans from both teams.
Nadal couldn’t avoid the issue when he arrived for the Madrid Open.
“Well, there is a problem with today’s society, that to be a true supporter of one team, it seems that you have to be anti another team,” Nadal said. “I just support Real Madrid. I have a lot of friends that are from Atletico. They are playing in a competition in Europe against an English team. I just went there to support Atletico Madrid. They invited me. I just wanted to enjoy the day, to see a great football match.”
Nadal was captured on camera with the jersey around his neck during the team’s 1-0 win at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Thursday, a result that saw Atletico reach the final of Europe’s second-tier club competition.
“The (club’s) president gave me a T-shirt as a gift,” Nadal said. “At night it was a little bit chilly, a little bit cold, and I just used it as a scarf. That’s all. But it’s always the same stuff. Maybe there’s too much hypocrisy, or I would say you people in the media have to write too many things.”