For his entry into the running at the Accor Arena, Rafael Nadal made the suspense last ... Seeded No. 1 and favorite of the tournament, the Spaniard suffered to get rid of his compatriot Feliciano Lopez (4-6, 7- 6, 6-4 in 2h30 of play).
Imperial serving for two rounds, the veteran Toledo, 39, who had already beaten Nadal four times out of nine, has long delayed the inevitable.
With an entry break, the director of the Masters 1000 in Madrid took the lead without ever weakening in the first set, despite two break points to be erased at 2-1.
With his degraded outfit from dark green to pink, quick to put the Parisian fashion police on alert, the recent winner of Roland-Garros, on the contrary, really did not seem on his plate.
The total absence of the public and the fact of not having played on hard indoor for eleven months did not help the Mallorcan, author of gross faults in return, to find his marks.
He starts his 8th Paris Bercy Masters, up to
RAFAEL
NADAL
(GIF @TennisTV) pic.twitter.com/vlYSMGkSUq
- We Are Tennis France (@WeAreTennisFR) November 4, 2020
In the second set, Nadal had many opportunities to take the lead, with two break points at 2-1, then three at 3-2, the last of which was spoiled by a forehand penalty in the corridor.
But there are evenings like that… So he had to wait for the decisive game (when he had lost four out of four against his rival) to finally reverse the trend.
In 8th, against the Australian Thompson
With a white station wagon at the start of the last round, the man with the 20 Grand Slams was able to roll out more quietly but without really convincing.
Enough, however, to celebrate his 1000th victory on the circuit!
Absences in packages (he had to give up last year before the semi-finals due to an injury to the abdominal belt), the protégé of Carlos Moya, who only played the Paris Masters 1000 seven times, is in quest for one of the few trophies that are still missing from its immense prize list.
In his previous attempts, he has always arrived at least in the quarter-finals.
He will meet on Thursday in 8th the Australian Thompson, striker of the Croatian Coric (n ° 15).