Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, playing for the first time since losing last month’s Australian Open final, beat fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday at the Rio Open.
Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Spanish tennis player Daniel Gimeno Traver during the 2014 Rio Open at the Jockey Club in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AFP/AGIF/Fernando Soutello)
RIO DE JANEIRO: Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, playing for the first time since losing last month’s Australian Open final, beat fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday at the Rio Open.
Nadal skipped Buenos Aires last week due to the nagging back injury that hindered his bid for a 14th Grand Slam singles crown last month at Melbourne, where he dropped the final to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.
That left his comeback for Rio and a $1.3 million ATP and WTA event that will launch a clay-court campaign Nadal hopes concludes with a ninth career French Open crown.
Nadal connected on 57 per cent of his first serves and won 77 of his first-serve points and 65 per cent of those on his second serve, surrendering only one break and breaking his 84th-ranked rival in the penultimate game to advance after one hours and 40 minutes.
Next up for the 27-year-old lefthander from Mallorca is another compatriot, 72nd-ranked Albert Montanes, who ousted Dutchman Robin Haase 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).
Yet another Spaniard, second seed David Ferrer, could await Nadal in the final. Ferrer launched his bid for a Rio crown by downing Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3.
Top-ranked Nadal makes triumphant Rio return Related image(s)
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