Rafael Nadal, 5th in the world, overcame the resistance of Frenchman Adrian Mannarino (69th) in the first set, before rolling out, winning 7-6 (16/14), 6-2, 6-2 and thus qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
“The first set was very nerve-wracking.
I was a little lucky because I had chances, but so was he, ”analyzed the 35-year-old Spaniard.
I am very happy to have survived this first set, without a doubt!
Then, the entry break in the second set was very important.
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Titled in 2009, Nadal will face the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (14th) on Tuesday, who a little later created the surprise by eliminating the German Alexander Zverev, 3rd player in the world ranking, in three sets 6-3, 7-6 (7 /5), 6-3.
A 28-minute tie-break
Under a blazing sun, Adrian Mannarino made life difficult for the Spaniard in the first round, where the two players played at a very high level and which lasted 81 minutes.
At 5-5, the French even got a break point saved by his opponent and the two men came to the tie-break, which was breathtaking both in terms of the quality of the game and the intensity and suspense.
During this decisive game which lasted 28 minutes, Nadal saved four set points and concluded on his seventh!
He had never needed so many points (30) to win a decisive game on the circuit.
But, subsequently, the Mannarino dam, perhaps affected in the abdominals, gave way.
He lost the second set in 39 minutes, then, after deceiving himself by breaking at the very start of the third set to come back to 1-1, he dropped four games in a row.
Serving for the win of the match at 5-2, Nadal concluded on his first match point.
The Australian Open is the only Major that Nadal, joint record holder of Grand Slam titles (20) with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, has won only once.
