Nadal happy to overcome tummy bug and beat young Canadian in Madrid
● Osaka and Halep cruise through in women’s event
Rafael Nadal was concerned going into his first match at the Madrid Open.
He lost practice time ahead of the tournament because of a stomach virus and didn’t know exactly how his body would react when he stepped onto the “Magic Box” centre court yesterday.
But, despite the lack of preparation and the physical toll of the illness, Nadal cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Canadian teenager Felix Auger-alias - sime to reach the third round in the Spanish capital.
Playing only a few days after falling ill, Nadal lost only four points on his serve in the first set and broke Auger-aliassime three times in the second.
“I’ve had this stomach virus for a few days so this was a very important match for me,” said the Spanish world No 2.
“I’ ve been improving but obviously the body remains a bit debilitated for a while. I’m very happy with the victory. It was very important.”
N ad al is trying to bounce back from consecutive semifinal losses in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, which marked his worst start to the clay-court season in four years.
He added :“The imp ortant thing is to win,especially given what’s happened in the last three days. In general, it’s a day to be very satisfied.”
A five-time champion in Madrid, Nadal will next face American Frances Tiafoe, who defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
“He is playing really well,” Nadal said of Tiafoe. “He has that drive and energy and it will be a good test for me and an opportunity for me to play a tough match and to keep improving.”
The 18-year- old Auger-aliassime is having his breakthrough season on tour, having moved to 30th in the rankings after reaching the final in Rio and these mi-finals in Miami. He converted his only break opportunity of the match late in the second set, but Nad al broke right back to close out the match. The 17- time Grand Slam champion converted four of his 10 break opportunities, with the last one coming on his sixthmatch point.
Earlier, Juan Martin D el Potro squandered a match point in a 6-3,2-6,7-5 loss to Laslo Djere in his second tournament since injuring his knee in October. Del Potro converted only two of his 11 break opportunities, failing to capitalize on the match point at 5-4 in the final set. The Argentine had last played in Delray Beach in February, losing in the quarter-finals.
StanWawr ink a defeated Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4 and will face Kei Nishikori, who got past Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien 7-5, 7-5.
Fa bio Fog ni nib eat John Millman 6-2, 6-2, while Gael Monfils edged Marton Fucsovics 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. Estoril Open champion Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 7-5.
On the women’s side, world No 1 Naomi Osaka reached the quarter-finals with a straightsets win over Ali ak sandra Sasnovich and will now face Belinda Bencic, who dropped only two games in her victory over Kateryna Kozlova.
“I’m at a really good place right now,” said Osaka. “I feel like I’ m having fun playing again, which is always a good thing for me and I always play well if I have that mentality.”
Sloane Stephens needed three sets to defeatSa is ai Zheng, while third-seeded Simona Halep routed Vikto - ria Kuzmova 6-0, 6-0.
“I think everything went very well for me to today,” said Halep, a two-time champion in Madrid. “I felt the ball, every single shot.”