Posted in: 02/09/2022 – 08:08
New York (AFP) – Veteran Spaniard Rafael Nadal overcame a difficult start in his confrontation with Italian Fabio Fognini before turning things around in his favor and winning four sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round of the Flushing Meadows tournament, the last Grand Slam of tennis, In a match in which he was injured when his racket hit the ground and rebounded to his nose, which bled with blood.
After the record holder for the number of major titles (22) lost the first set 2-6, he fell behind in the second 2-4, but he managed to win the next four games to equal the numbers, before defeating his Italian opponent, who was the first player to reverse his backwardness against the Spanish legend by two sets against Nothing in a major tournament to win five games, specifically at Flushing Meadows in 2015.
“It was one of the worst start to my game ever,” Nadal, 36, said of his difficult start to the match. “I have to play better.”
“The last months have been difficult for me (his abdominal muscle injury), so I was aware that things like this could happen.”
As for an accident that hit his nose while advancing 3-0 in the third set, he said, “I felt a little dizzy, and it was painful.” Nadal requested the intervention of the attending physician, who put a bandage on the player’s nose before continuing to play.
Nadal will meet in the third round with Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who lost all his previous 17 encounters with the Spaniard, who is seeking his third big title this season and his fifth crown in Flushing Meadows after 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019.
In the women’s doubles category, sisters Serena and Venus Williams lost at the first barrier, falling in front of the Czechs Linda Noskova and Lucy Hradiska 6-7 (5-7), 4-6.
The two sisters were playing together for the first time since 2018, knowing that they won 14 major titles in the doubles category between 2009 and 2016.
An early exit will allow Serena in particular to focus on continuing her career in the tournament, which may be her last before her final retirement.
Serena had achieved a remarkable result in the second round of the American championship, directed by the Estonian second-ranked Anett Kontaveit, by defeating her 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-2 in front of a burning crowd and a tumultuous atmosphere on the main “Arthur Ashe” stadium.
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