The Spaniard drops a set en route to the second round of the US Open
This Wednesday, Rafael Nadal lost the first set of the US Open for the first time. In 15 appearances he had never finished the opening set, but Australian Rinky Hijikata surprised him, got him into trouble and forced him to forget his bad preparation for rowing and fix a false debut at the US Open (4-6 , 6-2 , 6-3 and 6-3).
Hijikata, ranked 198th in the world and invited by the organization, emerged as a skilled tennis player, with a great serve and above all with a first adrenaline rush that earned him a set of a Nadal who has played since 2003, the year of his debut in New York, he had lost just four sets in his tournament start.
The Spaniard, with only one game in his pack since his withdrawal from Wimbledon, started out cold, showing signs of oxidation despite ten days of training at Flushing Meadows, and with a rival ahead of him not allowing him to pick up the pace with his serve and the continuous uploads to the network. Hijikata discovered upon landing in New York that his rival would become Nadal, one of the idols of his youth, he was not deterred by having him in front of him. Rather, he played the first set as if it weren’t his Grand Slam debut.
It bordered on perfection, the ’10’. There was no arguing about his set win. His mother applauded from the stands for an impressive and unexpected performance for a tennis player with just one win at the ATP level. And Hijikata wasn’t afraid of half-throttle Arthur Ashe, despite it being Nadal’s first appearance in three years. His friend Ben Stiller, present at the pre-tournament dinner of the Balearic Islands team and which also took place this Wednesday, was not missing.
The Australian’s screams, who came to believe it, were muted as soon as the fizz of the first moto ended. Nadal plunged the match into monotony far from Hijikata’s lofty frenzy and with levels steadily rising, he began to devour the Australian’s confidence.
The gifts were gone, the precision with the serve increased and most importantly the impeccable service from the Sydney player printed. He forged his first breakballs, took advantage and set up a cruising speed that allowed him to capture the second and third sets in just over an hour.
The Spaniard put the match on the verge of candy, in a way perfect for his interests, as Hijikata, a priori a very weak rival, gave him rhythm, suggested insecurities and forced him to find solutions. Over three hours on the court making up for the lack of tournament preparation, practically based on training and with no official competition other than a lost game in Cincinnati.
With everything lost, Hijikata recovered some of his best version in the opening games of the fourth set, but it was too late to distract Nadal from his course, who had the win between his eyebrows and those flashes of his best tennis in the finals left the match behind.
From less to more, the man from Manacor achieved a balsamic victory that ends his chances in New York and places him in the second round, where he will meet an old acquaintance of these circuits, Fabio Fognini. The Italian came back two sets against Aslan Karatsev, as he did against Nadal in 2015, when he practically lost.
At 35, Fognini has beaten Nadal four times, the last in 2019 Monte Carlo, and lost to him thirteen times.
Source: La Verdad
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