ATP Masters Paris-Bercy: Rafael Nadal celebrates 1000th career victory against Feliciano Lopez despite difficulties
Rafael Nadal is in the round of 16 at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris-Bercy. The world number two defeated his compatriot Feliciano Lopez in a hard-fought game with 4: 6, 7: 6 (5) and 6: 4 and celebrated his 1000th career victory.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Nov 04, 2020, 09:20 pm
The chances in advance for Rafael Nadal to win the title at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris-Bercy have probably never been as great as in 2020. At one of the few tournaments on the ATP calendar where the Mallorcan waits for the title even at an advanced stage of his career. With Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic, two of his toughest competitors in the ATP.Ranking had canceled their start, the number two of the tournament, Stefanos Tsitsipas, was surprisingly eliminated before the Spaniard's first appearance.
In his opening match in the Parisian district of Bercy, Rafael Nadal should have to deal with his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, one of the biggest long-term favorites on the tour. He was able to call up a strong performance in the first round and took the Serb Filip Krajinovic out of the tournament. Lopez also got off to a good start against Nadal and got an early break, which he subsequently knew to confirm. The Spaniard benefited from a rather below average performance by Nadal, who had major problems with the return in particular.
Lopez takes set one
As a result, the world number two should not really have access to the service games of his opponent. Although the 34-year-old presented himself much more confidently on his own serve, Nadal should not come close to a break. The first round went to Feliciano Lopez 6: 4 after a little over forty minutes.
In the second round, Rafael Nadal should get a slightly better start, the Mallorcan found two breakballs at 2: 1, but could not use them. Nadal continued to make an unusually large number of mistakes, especially with the forehand. Also in Lopez's next service game, Nadal should have breakballs, but again these remained unused.
As Feliciano Lopez subsequently acted much more confidently in his service games, a tiebreak had to bring the decision in round two. In this, Rafael Nadal confirmed his excellent service performance - the Spaniard had only given up two points on his own serve in the second round - after a strong return he got the mini-break and after an hour and 44 minutes put his third set point on 1: 1.
1000th career victory for Nadal
The Mallorcan was able to take this momentum with him into the initial phase of the decisive set, increased the pressure in Lopez's first service game and gained the advantage in set three with the first break chance. The world number 64. immediately had two chances to create the immediate rebreak, but could not use them. That should have been the occasion for Feliciano Lopez. Rafael Nadal now acted flawlessly in his service games and after exactly two and a half hours made the 4: 6, 7: 6 (5) and 6: 4 success perfect.
This is the 1000th career victory for the 20-time Grand Slam champion. In the round of 16, Rafael Nadal will now meet Jordan Thompson, who defeated Borna Coric in three sets. Alexander Zverev had already secured his place in the round of 16 with an impressive performance against Miomir Kecmanovic in the afternoon. Daniil Medvedev is also in the round of 16, the Russian benefited from a task by South African Kevin Anderson. His compatriot Andrey Rublev confirmed his strong condition with a clear two-set win over Radu Albot, Stan Wawrinka is in action after Nadal.