Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal kicked off their Abierto Mexicano Telcel campaigns in style on Tuesday. After Djokovic turned aside Martin Klizan 6-3, 7-6(4), the night session continued with an appearance by Nadal and he treated the fans to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mischa Zverev.
Often short on wins but rarely short on entertainment, Klizan blasted forehand winners left and right past Djokovic while also befuddling the Serb with steady diet of effective drop-shots. In the end, however, the world No. 2 was too consistent for his underdog opponent.
“I wasn’t expecting an easy match, that’s for sure,” Djokovic commented. “The field here is very strong and I got a collision in the first round against a guy who is well-known for playing his best tennis on the big stage. But all in all it was a good performance to win in straight sets. (It was) a tough second set but it’s exactly what I needed at this moment to test myself and my game and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”
Nadal stared down a challenge of his own in Zverev, who shocked Andy Murray on the way to a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open. But there was no upset on this occasion–not even close. Nadal seized control with a break at 5-4 to finish off the first set and it was all but over when he earned another scalp of the Zverev serve at 2-1 in the second.
The Spaniard fired an impressive 28 winners over the course of the match.
Next up for Nadal on Wednesday is a fourth career meeting with Paolo Lorenzi, who is 0-3 lifetime in the head-to-head series. The 38th-ranked Italian earned another shot at Nadal by overcoming Yen-Hsun Lu 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday. But Wednesday’s blockbuster battle will pit Djokovic against Juan Martin Del Potro, who outlasted Frances Tiafoe in a third-set tiebreaker.
Djokovic and Nadal are joined in the last 16 by defending champion Dominic Thiem. Coming off another title on the red clay of Rio de Janeiro, Thiem maintained momentum by defeating Gilles Simon 7-6(7), 6-3 on Tuesday night.
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I don’t think Nadal stared down any challenge from Zverev because Zverev took Murray down at Wimbledon. First of all, Nadal is not Murray and Nadal, himself, beat Zverev 61 61 in Brisbane just 2 weeks before Zverev beat Murray. Zverev wouldn’t have gone into the match thinking I can beat Nadal because I beat Murray, he’d be thinking, this guy beat me pretty easily the only time we’ve met so I have to do something different to what I did against him in Brisbane.
It was Zverev who as staring down a challenge from Rafa.
Zverev played at a very high level particularly challenging Rafa until the 10th game when Rafa broke.
Any experienced viewer who actually watched the match would understand that.
That’s what I liked about the performance. Rafa stayed calm, took care of his serve and stepped it up to break Misha giving him the set. No rust or nerves at the start at all. He was VINTAGE (except for a game late in the second).
Yes Zverev played better than he did against Nadal in Brisbane but it’s because he was beaten so badly in Brisbane by Rafa so had to do something different, not because he beat Murray in the AO. I just don’t see the point in bringing Murray into the equation because by that logic, having lost easily to Nadal in Brisbane, Zverev should also have been beaten easily by Murray 2 weeks later at the AO.