Rafael Nadal sees off Alex De Minaur to reach third round of Madrid Open

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Rafael Nadal delighted his hometown supporters and demonstrated that he is still going strong by triumphing over Alex De Minaur and progressing to the third round of the Madrid Open.

Last week, the 37-year-old player was defeated by De Minaur at the same level of competition in Barcelona. He had a pessimistic outlook on his physical state before this tournament and questioned if he would be able to participate in the upcoming French Open.

However, in the second round match, Nadal managed to reverse the situation and triumphed over his opponent with a score of 7-6 (6) 6-3 at the Caja Magica. The match was witnessed by the King of Spain and two notable figures from Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior and Zinedine Zidane.

Despite making numerous mistakes in the game, the Spaniard's clay-court performance still hasn't reached its peak. Nevertheless, the match was a positive improvement for him, and there is no doubt that Nadal remains highly motivated.

He became very angry after he managed to get a point off De Minaur's serve in the second round. The umpire claimed that he didn't challenge in time during the next game even though the officials missed an Australian player's shot going over the baseline.

De Minaur managed to equalize the score by breaking Nadal's serve and briefly taking the lead at 4-3. However, Nadal quickly recovered and regained control of the match. Despite being held back by De Minaur at 6-2, Nadal persisted and eventually won the tie-break on his fifth attempt, much to the delight of the home crowd.

He expressed his excitement by pumping his fist three times and started off the second set with a strong performance, hitting some classic winning shots and forcing De Minaur to move quickly around the court.

When the match concluded, Nadal had complete dominance and secured his first win against a top-20 player since 2022. This occurred when De Minaur made an error serving, leading to a celebratory moment in the Spanish capital.

After the match, Nadal emphasized that he still requires more time to improve. He expressed during an interview on Sky Sports that although there were moments of excellent tennis, it was inconsistent. Despite some positive occurrences, there was still work that needed to be done.

I'm very thrilled to have been able to compete with such a fantastic player as Alex for more than two hours. It really means a lot to me. Plus, the atmosphere here is simply amazing!

"If I can keep playing for several weeks, I want to test my limits and see how well I can perform compared to others. However, at the moment, I need to take it one step at a time and focus on my recovery before making any decisions."

In the upcoming match, Nadal will be up against Pedro Cachin, a tennis player from Argentina. Cachin managed to beat Frances Tiafoe in a match that had three sets with a score of 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4.

Jannik Sinner, who was the leading seed, easily defeated his fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego by a score of 6-0, 6-3. In another match, third seed Daniil Medvedev had to overcome a deficit of one set to beat Matteo Arnaldi.

The outcome of the match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Thiago Monteiro was quite unexpected as Tsitsipas was aiming to reach his third consecutive final. However, Monteiro, a qualifier from Brazil, defeated him with a score of 6-4 6-4.

The top-ranked female tennis player Iga Swiatek easily won against Sorana Cirstea with a score of 6-1 6-1. Maria Sakkari triumphed over Sloane Stephens with a score of 6-1 6-3, and Ons Jabeur managed to secure a crucial 7-5 2-6 6-4 victory over Leylah Fernandez.