By Chris Oddo | Wednesday August 8, 2018
Rafael earned his first hardcourt win since the Australian Open by taking a wild match with Benoit Paire in straights.
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Rafael Nadal marched then wobbled past Benoit Paire and into the third round at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Wednesday, 6-2, 6-3. The top-seeded Spaniard is a three-time champion in Canada and he improved to 4-0 lifetime against Paire and 36-3 on the season with his 74-minute victory.
When Paire netted a forehand meekly—then smashed his racquet more firmly—to see Nadal go up a break and 2-0 in set one, the end was already nigh.
But the circuitous route that the four-time foes traveled to the finish line was hardly predictable.
"I feel that of course I was not at my 100% today," Nadal told reporters, hinting that his deep run at Wimbledon took a little bit of time from his hardcourt preparations. "But at the same time it's true that it's impossible, no? After a while, you need matches. It's true that I did good work here the last five days, but at the same time it's true that I didn't work very hard at home. I just did the basics to come back to the competition. So first match is important. It's important victory for me, for my confidence. It's important that I have another match tomorrow too. So just try to keep going."
That quote explains some of the difficulties Nadal had over the course of his encounter with Paire, despite the dominant first set.
Nadal wrenched a backhand into the open court for a clean winner to move up 3-0 in set one, but Paire held for 3-1 and even managed a pair of break points in the next game, the first saved by a Nadal put-away forehand volley, the second with a body serve that brought a netted backhand and an agonized scream from Paire.
Nadal would break again for 6-2, and looked to be firmly in control.
The World No.1 broke to lead 2-0 in set two before a temporary fog rolled over the landscape of this match, as both players went into hyperspace, producing seven straight breaks of serve in total, before Nadal brought the match out of its tailspin and held to close out his victory with a serve out wide that elicited a backhand error from Paire.
Nadal, appearing in Toronto for the first time since 2010, improved to 30-8 lifetime at the Rogers Cup. He will be relieved that the cagy Paire didn’t take a set off him on a night that the talented Frenchman was ornery and at times very smooth.
"Here, you know, I don't play a singles match on hard court since Australia," Nadal said. "So is a long time. And that's it. You need time."
In just his second hardcourt event of the season, Nadal improved his record on the surface to 5-1. The 32-year-old moves on to face Stan Wawrinka next.
Tsitsipas Stays Hot, Downs Thiem
Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Dominic Thiem for the second time of the season to set up a third-round clash with Novak Djokovic in Toronto. The Greek notched a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory over the Austrian as he continues his push in the direction of the Top 20. Tsitsipas is No.27 in the ATP rankings after a trip to the Citi Open semis last week in Washington, D.C.
In other action No.4-seeded Kevin Anderson barely edged Evgeny Donskoy of Russia, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(0), to set a third-round clash with Ilya Ivashka of Belarus. The 24-year-old qualifier, who defeated American Ryan Harrison in straight sets, is into the third round at a Masters 1000 event in his first appearance at Rogers Cup.
John Isner (d. Herbert), Denis Shapovalov (d. Fognini), Karen Khachanov (d. Carreno Busta), Frances Tiafoe (d .Raonic) and Alexander Zverev (d. Klahn) were also winners this afternoon.