Rafael Nadal will look to stay undefeated on hard courts in 2013 when he kicks off his U.S. Open campaign on Monday. Up first for Nadal is Ryan Harrison.
Rafael Nadal and Ryan Harrison will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season when they collide in round one of the U.S. Open on Monday afternoon. Their only previous encounter came at the same stage of the Indian Wells Masters, where Nadal prevailed 7-6(3), 6-2.
The second-ranked Spaniard eventually captured the Indian Wells title, just as he has at every hard-court event he has played this season. Nadal just pulled off the Montreal-Cincinnati double, a stretch that included wins over Jerzy Janowicz, Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, and John Isner. The 12-time Grand Slam champion is 53-3 overall for the season, which features an incredible nine titles–one of which is the French Open.
Harrison peaked as high as No. 43 in the world last summer, but 2013 has been a major disappointment. Although the 21-year-old American is just 11-8 at the ATP level this season, he has shown some signs of recovery throughout the summer. Harrison reached the semifinals in Atlanta, beat Lleyton Hewitt in Washington, D.C. before losing to Juan Martin Del Potro, and he got past Alexandr Dolgopolov in Cincinnati prior to a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 setback against David Ferrer.
A horrific draw continues a streak of bad luck for Harrison at Grand Slams: Robin Soderling in the first round of the French Open in 2011, Ferrer in the second round of Wimbledon in 2011, Marin Cilic in the first round of the 2011 U.S. Open, Andy Murray in the first round of the 2012 Australian Open, Djokovic in the second round of Wimbledon in 2012, Del Potro in the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open, and Djokovic again in the second round of this year’s Australian Open. This one has to be the worst of all given Nadal’s current form, and–once again–it likely won’t end well for Harrison.
This could be competitive for a while as Nadal gets settled into the tournament, but the No. 2 seed should roll in the end.
Pick: Nadal in 3, losing 11-13 games
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why did the play get suspended
rain
nadal is doing good now 🙂
second set in the bag 🙂 better show off
Rafa is just rolling over Harrison right now. 6-4, 6-2.
Harrison just doesn’t seem to know what to do. Rafa served an ace to close out the second set. He is really looking good for a first match.
very nice set from Rafa
ed and RITB, absolutely ! annoying commentators . The worst on the tour !
taylor dent picked isner to win last year’s USO !
I find myself pining for Robbie Koenig, that’s how bad this 2 are………
set 2 was good stuff from rafa..he was aggressive and served well too.. he is just not willing to do much with the ROS today and he does not need to…
Rafa’s playing well within himself, not extended at all. Good first round match…….
@RITB , lol.koenig is fun ,no? I actually enjoy koenig’s …he brings energy to his job !
Rafa has got the best over head smash on Tour, no?
Who’s next?
Pospisil or Silva……
yup, he has the best overhead on tour I think.. surely the best among the big 4 by a good margin ! rafa’s footwork to prepare for the overheads is MIND BOGGLING..hundred of tiny steps !!
OMG backhand DLT on the run! 🙂
Certainly better than the Brands show at RG. This guy is reinventing his game on the HC!!!
This is just ideal for rafa…making a strong start here and winning his match easily on MONDAY..he’ll now have two days off ! almost the perfect scenario, whatever rafa felt was lacking today, he is going to work hard on that in these two days…may be he’l practise the ROS more 😉
Rafa is taking the forehand SO early now..I have never seen him hit the forehand this aggressively on consistent basis
Rafa is feeling it now. He’s just toying with Harrison, who is completely lost. Of course espn2 is sticking with Sloane Stephens so I have to endure the horrific commentators on espn3.
Gulbis locked in a 5th set battle
I saw that. Surprising.
I noticed that too! He won’t go far…….will be knackered
I think Rafa’s groundstrokes are looking quite impressive in this first match. It’s not just the forehand. It’s the dtl backhand now. That’s bad news for Rafa’s opponents. It shows just how important confidence is to Rafa’s game. Those wins at Montreal and Cincy have given him a huge boost.
He is looking the best I have seen him in a long time on hard courts.
Usually Rafa is scrappy in his first games of Slams. This is the best I have seen him play in a first rounder in a Slam, clay included.
Rafa says – BE afraid, be very, very afraid!!!!
So it looks like Davydenko may be meeting Rafa after all! I really thought Davy was going home but he finally won it in five!!
We don’t know if it’s going to be Davy. Verdasco just won the third set in his match with Dodig. It’s two sets to one Dodig. So one of those guys could play Davy.
Is it raining again?
These double faults by rafa…he had a streak against berdych at cincy..most of them are happening when rafa is trying to hit a second serve up the middle on the ad court ..double faults from rafa are always surprising but not so surprising in a sense that this particular 2nd serve has always been the most difficult for rafa to execute… he has been varying his 2nd serve more ..