From ATP250 Melbourne to the Australian Open to passing the first round of Acapulco, Nadal's winning streak for the new season has expanded to 11, which also equaled the best start he set in 2014.
6-3, 6-2, Nadal easily defeated the lucky loser Kudra from the United States in just 76 minutes to win his first victory after winning the Australian Open, reaching the second round of ATP500 Acapulco while extending his winning streak for the new season in 2022 to 11, the next round he will play against another lucky loser from the United States, Kozlov.
Nadal's first-round opponent was originally the American giant Opelka, but the latter chose to retire due to some physical problems due to the fact that he had reached the final in the past two weeks, and Nadal's opponent became Kudra, who ranked only 100. In the end, Nadal won without any suspense, he did not send a break point in the whole game, and the scoring rate was as high as 96%! 27 shots lost just one point, and two shots lost just three points.
"It was a very positive start, being able to get through two sets was a great win, which has a very positive side to confidence," Nadal said after the game: "I felt like I was playing a really good game, I played very hard, of course there are many aspects I can do better, but overall I'm doing well and I don't have anything to complain about. Nadal has also improved his record in this station to 21 wins and 2 losses, and he has won the championship three times in the past.
From ATP250 Melbourne to the Australian Open to passing the first round of Acapulco, Nadal's winning streak for the new season has expanded to 11, which also equaled the best start he set in 2014, when he lost to Wawrinka in the Australian Open final, and this year he is clearly very hopeful of continuing to rewrite this record, because his next opponent is Kozlov, who ranked only 130 before the match, who eliminated Dimitrov in the first round.
Speaking of Nadal and Kozlov, these two have another story in this game. Before yesterday's first day of competition, the two had been training together, but due to the temporary withdrawal of another American player, Cressy, Kozlov, who lost the qualifying round, was given the opportunity to play, so that he could only "abandon" Nadal in the middle of the way to play with Dimitrov. And what I didn't expect was that after a 3-hour and 21-minute marathon battle, Kozlov successfully broke the cold!
I don't know if practicing with Nadal made Kozlov feel like a tiger, but after the game that set the time record for this station, the American wrote on camera: "Sorry Rafa, I left you today" and met Nadal to see you on the field: "(If I can meet Nadal) it will be great, it is a huge honor for me." He's a great guy, I have a lot of respect for him and I'm definitely going to enjoy the game very much. ”
And now Kozlov will finally get his wish, and the match with Nadal will be changed from the practice field to the field, continuing the unfinished training session two days ago, which will also be the first official meeting between the two of them, no matter what the result, for the 24-year-old Kozlov, Akapulco this week is full of magic, enough to make him remember forever. And for Nadal, I don't know what kind of lesson he will teach this junior in the real arena?
Although Nadal's signing in Acapulco this time is quite difficult, but like this year's Australian Open, all the imaginary opponents before the semi-finals seem to be avoiding the three corners, in addition to Opelka's retirement, Dimitrov is out, the quarter-final potential opponent Berrettini also retired in the first round, so Nadal's first test may have to wait until Medvedev in the semi-finals.
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