Madrid (Spain) – In a duel with the biggest age difference in the history of the Masters 1000, the Spanish Rafael Nadal made his story count in Madrid and got the better of the North American Darwin Blanch, just 16 years old, who had no chance against the former number 1 in the world and was devastated with the final score of 6/1 and 6/0, recorded in just 64 minutes.
In the second round, the home tennis player will see Australian Alex de Minaur, his tormentor last week at the ATP 500 in Barcelona. It will be the sixth duel between them, Rafa won the first three (Wimbledon 2018, Australian Open 2019 and ATP Cup 2020) and lost the last two, this year in Barcelona and last year in the United Cup
Holding the record for victories in the Madrid tournament, now with 57, and also for titles, with his five wins, Nadal is competing in the competition for the 20th time and was only surpassed once on his debut, losing to Alex Corretja in 2003.
He now has 55 wins and just one loss in clay duels against rivals outside the top 100. His only defeat in this situation was 20 years ago, when Frenchman Olivier Mutis, then 113 in the world, got the better of Nadal in the second round of the Palermo ATP.
Nadal’s absolute dominance in numbers
A guest of the organization, Blanch was looking for his first victory at ATP level, after falling on his debut at the Masters 1000 in Miami, where he debuted at this level, surpassed by Czech Tomas Machac in straight sets. However, the young American was unable to stand up to Nadal, who dominated the match from start to finish.
The young North American was unable to let go on the court, despite hitting 69% of his first serves, he had a very poor performance with his serve, winning just 52% with the first ball and a measly 17% with the second (two points won in 12 disputed). He also abused unforced errors, making 25 to Nadal’s only 9.
Very firm, the home tennis player ended the match with nine good winners, against his opponent’s five, and had great use of his serve, winning 77% of the points. As a result, he did not face a single break point against, taking advantage of five of the nine break opportunities he had.
Two very calm sets for the Spaniard
Right away, the left-hander from Mallorca showed that he was sharp, confirming the zero serve in the first game and scoring a break in the second, to then open 3/0. Blanch then had a good service game and came from scratch, but following the dispute she suffered another break and only won one game in the opening set.
The situation was even worse for the 16-year-old North American in the second half, in which he ended up without winning a single game, with three consecutive breaks. After winning the last three games of the second set, Rafa reached a sequence of nine by sealing his victory with a “tire” over Blanch, currently 1028th in the world, who was unable to take advantage of the organization’s invitation to do much.
