ATP Rome: Rafael Nadal defeats Pablo Carreno Busta and celebrates a successful return to the tour
Rafael Nadal has returned to the ATP tour with a win. The world number two beat Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome with 6: 1 and 6: 1.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Sep 16, 2020, 08:27 pm
On February 29 of this year, Rafael Nadal made his last appearance on the tour to date in the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco. More than six months later, the world number two made his comeback at the clay court event in Rome - and didn't need too much start-up time for this.
In the fourth game, the 19-time Grand Slam winner took the serve from the US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta for the first time. After a somewhat bumpy start, this break should give the 34-year-old security on the Campo Centrale - after only 35 minutes Nadal had won the first set 6-1. Particularly impressive: The Mallorcan placed each of his 22 returns in the field.
Djokovic on, Tsitsipas out
The second set should continue in a similar key: As in the first section, Nadal took his opponent's second service game from his opponent and took the lead 2-1. The defending champion did not give up this lead - Nadal managed two more breaks and after a little more than 70 minutes fixed the clear 6: 1 and 6: 1 success. In the round of 16, the Spaniard will meet Milos Raonic or Dusan Lajovic, who are 13th.
The world number one Novak Djokovic started the tournament with a clear success earlier in the day. In addition, Jannik Sinner managed a medium-sized surprise with a three-set win over Stefanos Tsitsipas .