Rafael Nadal continues singles comeback with win over Cameron Norrie
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Rafael Nadal has won his second straight singles match as he prepares to compete in the Paris Olympics.
AFP
BASTAD – Never doubt Rafael Nadal on clay, even if the 38-year-old Spanish great is retiring from the sport soon.
A day after making a successful singles comeback with a win over Leo Borg in the Swedish Open on July 17, he continued the momentum with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over British fifth seed Cameron Norrie in the last 16.
Before his clash with Borg – son of tennis great Bjorn – he had last played singles in his first-round defeat by Alexander Zverev at the French Open in May as he struggled with fitness issues.
But there were no sign of rust on July 18, even though he survived a mini scare in the second set. Down 4-1, Nadal fought back in typical fiery fashion as he won five consecutive games to close out the match.
Proving that he is not done with tennis just yet, he has now reached his first clay quarter-final since Roland Garros in 2022, and will next take on Argentina’s Mariano Navone.
“Great feelings. It’s been a while without playing on tour... since Roland Garros,” Nadal said.
“To have the chance to compete well against a great player like Cameron, these are great feelings. I played for moments (in this match) good tennis. I needed to play more aggressive.
“I haven’t been competing very often. Matches and victories like today help me to be in rhythm and put the pressure on the opponent during the whole match. That’s something I need to improve today. Because I haven’t played enough.”
The Spaniard is also playing in the doubles in Bastad, Sweden, as he prepares to get up to speed in time for the July 27-Aug 4 Paris Olympics tennis tournament.
On July 17, he and Casper Ruud saved a match point in the deciding set tie-break to reach the semi-finals, hours after the Norwegian was knocked out of the singles.
The duo squeezed past France’s Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 12-10 to advance to the last four, winning the final three points of the match after being on the brink of defeat.
“I think we had some fun. It was an emotional match at the end, a good level of tennis against two good players,” said Nadal. “We enjoy it, the crowd was amazing. Full crowd in a doubles match, that’s fantastic.”
Elsewhere in the German city of Hamburg, top seed Zverev shrugged off a knee issue to ease past Jesper de Jong in straight sets and into the round of 16 at his home tournament.
The defending champion hurt his left knee in a fall at Wimbledon – where he lost in the last 16 – but advanced 6-2, 6-2 past 114th-ranked Dutchman de Jong to set up a meeting with France’s Hugo Gaston. The result of their match on July 18 was unavailable at press time. AFP
