On January 16, Beijing time, the Australian Open main competition kicked off. In a highlight battle in the first round of the men's singles, the tournament's top seed Nadal faced the challenge of British post-00s Draper. The two sides fought fiercely in four sets in this match, and Nadal eliminated his opponent 7-5/2-6/6-4/6-1 to usher in his first win of the new season and win eight consecutive Australian Opens.
【H2H】
Nadal is currently ranked No. 2 in the world and Draper at No. 40 in the world, and the two sides have never met before.
【Historical Achievements】
Nadal has played 17 previous Australian Opens, with an overall record of 76 wins and 15 losses, reached the final six times and won the title twice. Youngster Draper has not played at the Australian Open before, and this is his first appearance in the tournament.
【Competition Details】
In the first 11 games of the first set, both sides held serve and Nadal started 6-5. In the 12th game, Nadal broke serve in the first set to win the first set 7-5.
Andal started passively in the second set, trailing 4-0 after two breaks. In the 8th game, Draper successfully saved his serve to win the set, losing the second set 2-6.
In the third set, Nadal broke serve first in the fourth game to take a 3-1 advantage. In the seventh game, Nadal's serve was lost, and Draper then held serve to tie 4. In the 10th game, Nadal broke a key break on his opponent's serve to win the third set 6-4.
Nadal was broken in the fourth set, and he quickly broke back in the second game to make it 1-1. In the fourth game, Nadal broke serve again to take a 3-1 lead. In the sixth game, Nadal broke serve again to lead 5-1 to win the game. In the seventh game, Nadal saved two break points to win the fourth set 6-1.
【Next Round Opponent】
Nadal, who successfully advanced to the second round, will face Chinese-American brother MacDonald, who eliminated Nakajima Brandon in a five-set battle.