Rafael Nadal’s body withstood its toughest test yet at the Madrid Open, en route to a tough 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory after three hours of play against the 91st world racket Pedro Cachin on Monday.
Nadal showed no sign of weakness during this duel which allowed him to reach the round of 16 of the clay court tournament which he won on five occasions throughout his prestigious career. In the next round he will face the 31st racket in the world, the Czech Jiri Lehecka.
“I took a lot of risks in the third set, and that’s difficult to do after an absence of several months,” noted Nadal. It’s been a long time since I played such a tough match. We’ll see how I react tomorrow [mardi]. But I’m already very satisfied with having won three matches in a row. »
The 37-year-old veteran is trying to get back into shape ahead of the French Open next month. Since missing the tour with his last injury, he has played two matches for Barcelona and appeared to be rather pessimistic about his fitness heading into the tournament in Madrid. But he won three duels in a row on Madrid clay.
Nadal seemed rather comfortable against Cachin. The Argentinian fought well, especially in the second set, but he was the victim of two breaks while serving for the set. Cachin eventually sealed the outcome of the tiebreaker.
Nadal seemed a little more tense in the third set, and above all a little more exhausted. He lacked consistency in his shots, but was still able to record three breaks to secure the victory — to the great pleasure of the spectators present at the “Caja Magica”.
Auger-Aliassime continues on his way…
A little earlier Monday, Félix Auger-Aliassime reached the round of 16 after taking advantage of the retirement of Czech Jakub Mensik while leading 6-1, 1-0.
Mensik raised the white flag after 35 minutes of play, after being broken in the first game of the second set.
It was the first career match between the 23-year-old Quebecer and Mensik, who is 18 years old. Auger-Aliassime will meet in the next round on Madrid clay with Norwegian Casper Ruud (no. 5), who ousted Briton Cameron Norris (no. 29) 6-2, 6-4.
The Quebecer won 92% of the points with his first service ball, and he was not faced with a single break point before his opponent gave up. He converted all three of his break points.
Auger-Aliassime, who is ranked 35th in the world, reached the fourth round of a Masters 1000 series tournament for the first time since Indian Wells in 2023.
Mensik was having a good season so far. He upset ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday, and defeated former world number one Andy Murray and current world number 8 Andrey Rublev en route to the final of the Doha tournament earlier this year.
However, after reaching his first ATP Tour final, he withdrew from the next tournament, in Dubai, in the second round due to a right elbow injury. He admitted the injury worsened at Indian Wells, where he bowed out in the second round.
Mensik taped his right arm between the two innings on Monday.
Ruud has a 3-1 career record against the Maple Leaf representative. The two tennis players have not faced each other since the ATP Finals in 2022, when Ruud triumphed 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the preliminary phase.
Furthermore, Daniil Medvedev came from behind to eliminate the American Sebastian Korda 5-7, 7-6 (4) and 6-3. The Russian, third seed in the tournament, came within two points of suffering defeat.
…just like Iga Swiatek
Among the ladies, Iga Swiatek can still dream of a first career title at the Madrid Tennis Open, after easily defeating Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1, 6-0.
The Pole, who is the tournament favorite, won her last 12 games of the match and only conceded five points in the second set. Swiatek at the same time reached the quarter-finals of the only European tournament on clay which still eludes him.
Sorribes Tormo, 27th player in the world, was the only Spanish player still in contention in Madrid.
Swiatek, who lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the final in Madrid last year, will face 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the next round, who upset fifth seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-4 .
For her part, eighth seed Ons Jabeur beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-4, while Mirra Andreeva celebrated her 17th birthday with a 7-6 (2) victory. , 6-4 against 12th seed Jasmine Paolini. The Russian teenager erased a 2-5 deficit in the first set and earned her spot in the quarter-finals, one round more than during her last visit to Madrid last year.
Andreeva will face Sabalenka or 13th seed Danielle Collins.
with Tales Azzoni of the Associated Press