Nadal is currently a shadow of the player who won 22 Grand Slams in his illustrious career, who also set a record 10 titles in Rome, most recently in 2021. However, the Spaniard is racing against time to find the best form to attend Roland Garros for the last time at the end of May.
After missing most of last season and the first three months of this year due to injury, Nadal officially returned at the Barcelona Open, where he played two matches and was eliminated. Nadal then participated in the Madrid Open, where he was eliminated after four matches. The Rome Masters will be Nadal's third clay-court tournament of the season, where he is looking to regain his peak playing form.
Nadal had a difficult start at the Rome Masters (Photo: FS).
Since the start of the 2005 season, Nadal has lost just one of his 163 matches against players ranked outside the top 50 on clay. He continued that streak when he faced 108th-ranked Zizou Bergs in the first round of the Rome Masters.
Nadal started well, after 2 games of good serve management, he broke in game 4, leading 3-2. However, the Spaniard could not protect the advantage when Bergs demanded a break in the next game. Nadal made a mistake in game 9, Bergs seized the opportunity to break the game to create a turning point leading to a 6-4 victory.
In the second set, Nadal took an early advantage when he took a 3-0 lead. Although Bergs had two chances to break the game in this set, Nadal did not give his opponent a chance to fight back. Successfully defending all his service games, Nadal won 6-3 and pushed the match into a deciding set.
Nadal still had the advantage before breaking in game 3, leading 2-1. The Spaniard showed the qualities of a big star when he successfully saved a triple break-point in game 6 and advanced to the second round 6-4.
Nadal's next challenge will be world No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz. At this year's tournament, Nadal fell into a rather difficult first bracket, which also included defending champion Daniil Medvedev and runner-up Holger Rune.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/nadal-loi-nguoc-dong-thanh-cong-o-tran-mo-man-rome-masters-20240509235635024.htm
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