Rafael Nadal had just recovered from an abdominal injury suffered at Wimbledon. Photo: Matthew Stockman / AFP.
Upon returning to the professional ATP circuit, after 42 days of inactivity since retiring due to an abdominal injury in the Wimbledon semi-finals, Rafael Nadal lost this Wednesday against the Croatian Borna Coricnumber 152 in the world rankings, and was eliminated in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000a tournament he had not participated in since 2017.
The Spaniard (3rd) lost 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3, in a match that lasted two hours and 50 minutes of play, and a long break due to rain. In this way, Nadal added his fourth fall of the season, just 12 days into the season US Openthe last Grand Slam of the year.
“This tournament was difficult for me, he played better. It’s hard to get a lot of good things out of this game. When you come back from injury, if you win the first game things get better, it wasn’t like that today. I need to practice, I need to get back better, that’s the truth, “she said.
Likewise, Rafa missed the chance to recover the first place in the world ranking. For this he had to become champion and that the current leader, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, had not passed the round of 16, where he will face the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (21st) this Thursday.
Rafael Nadal was eliminated in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000. Photo: Matthew Stockman / AFP.
Coric, who will face another Spaniard, Roberto Bautista, in the round of 16 in Cincinnati, joined the select a group of four players who have a positive balance against Nadal with at least four contested duels. Together with the Croatian, who has three wins and two defeats, they are Novak Djokovic (30-29), Nikolai Davydenko (6-5) and Domenico Hrbaty (3-1).
“It was very, very special. I have been injured in the last two years, I have not played on big stages. I really wanted to play this game,” the Croatian tennis player, who in November became 12th in the 2018 world, said after the victory. .
The only Argentine representative who continues the race is Diego Schwartzman, who on Tuesday beat Aslán Karatsev 7-6 (3), 3-6 and 6-2 to advance to the round of 16, where he will face the Greek on Thursday Stefanos Tsitsipasthree of the world.
The chronicle of the defeat of Rafael Nadal
The match was interrupted for an hour and a half for the rain that fell in Cincinnati when Nadal was leading 5-4 in the first set. Up to that moment the Spaniard showed a good level, solid with his serve, and even after the interval he had achieved two set points in the tie break to take advantage of it. However, he did not take advantage of it and committed a double fault which cost him the first set.
Rafael Nadal was unable to advance against a Borna Coric who took advantage of his favorable opportunities. Photo: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sport
Rafa did not lose his temper and slowly managed to pave the way for a breakout opportunity that would come at 3-3 and which he would use to take the lead 4-3. Since then, she hasn’t given up on her services and took the second set 6-4.
With inertia in his favor, he had a chance to break through in the third game, leading 0-30, but missed the chance. On the contrary, Coric did not waste his chance and managed to break Nadal’s serve by taking the lead 4-2, which certainly put him on the road to victory.
With information from AFP and EFE.
IT
Source: Clarin
