Rafael Nadal is safely through to the Wimbledon third round, but he will be eager to raise his level when he takes the court against Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday. Botic van de Zandschulp and Richard Gasquet are also aiming for a place in the second week.
(27) Lorenzo Sonego vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal did enough to reach the third round at Wimbledon, but he will have to raise his level substantially if he wants to win a third straight Grand Slam title. In fact, he may require dramatic improvement if he simply wants to get past Sonego on Saturday. From the standpoint of offensive firepower and general grass-court prowess, Sonego is a much more dangerous opponent than Nadal’s first two foes in Francisco Cerundolo and Ricardas Berankis—both of whom took a set off the Spaniard. Two of the 54th-ranked Italian’s ATP final appearances have come on the green stuff, including the 2019 Antalya title. He reached the fourth round at the All-England Club last summer and so far this fortnight he has taken out grass-court specialist Denis Kudla in five sets and Hugo Gaston in straights.
Surprisingly, Nadal dropped the third set against both Cerundolo and Berankis and even trailed the fourth set of his opening match by a break. It has hardly been impressive by the 22-time major champion, but those were his first two grass-court matches since 2019. You have to think improvement is coming sooner rather than later, plus it’s never easy facing Nadal for the first time—which is the case for Sonego in this contest.
Pick: Nadal in 4
Richard Gasquet vs. (21) Botic van de Zandschulp
Van de Zandschulp and Gasquet will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time at a major this season. They previously faced each at the Australian Open, where it was one set all before Gasquet retired. The Frenchman had lost 10 games in a row at the time. Gasquet has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and at 36 years old things are not getting any easier. The world No. 69 was forced to play nine sets in his first two rounds, too, so he is definitely a question mark heading into the last 32.
Whereas Gasquet had to work hard against both Joao Sousa and Mackenzie McDonald, Van de Zandschulp mostly cruised past Feliciano Lopez and Emil Ruusuvuori—dropping just one set to the Finn. The 25th-ranked Dutchman has been in great form dating back to the summer of 2021 and this is his fourth consecutive appearance in at least the third round of a Grand Slam. Now he has a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon second week for the first time.
Pick: Van de Zandschulp in 4
Iga lost 1st set.. and down a break in second.
Iga lost the match.,
Iga lost in str8ts!!! Oh boy!! What a manic Saturday it is today!! Coco, Iga………..who else?
Iga struggled last round against a lucky loser so this is not so wildly surprising..
Cornet has had big results. I remember her beating Serena years ago at wimby when Serena was the big favourite to win wimby.
So no one”s commenting on match this far? Rafa is serving VERY well thus far! Looks focused!! Keep it up champ! Take ure chances!! Vamos!!
Now just talking about how great Rafa”s serving is and he goes and drops 2 dfs!! Sigh!! Vamos, Rafa!! But ure back into it!!’
Mona,
I am here. Rafa looks a lot sharper starting this match. He is already up a break. He was serving well until the 2 DF’s. But it didn’t hurt him.
What is it with Rafa when he serves after breaking?
The first time he broke against Berankis he served a double fault on the first point. Rafa did exactly the same on the first point ! and also served another double later in the game..
Nick is there complaining about everything!! As always! He lost first set but still on serve so y he is behaving like this?
Meanwhile Rafa breaks twice!! Already serving for set 1!!!
I think Kyrgios is going to blow. He does this when he is losing. Tsitsipas played a great first set and won the TB easily. So we are about due for one of his meltdowns.
Well hello grass court Rafa!
Rafa wins the first set6-1!
This serving day (sans the dfs) is blowing my mind!! Rafa serves more aces in this set alone than in his entire career!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Good going Rafa!! Onto the second set we go!!! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
Rafa looked a million times better in the first game! One point hitting forehands and then a great bhdtl winner…so much better.😀
Rafa looks much more like his grass court self. Nice to see!
Nick got code violation for calling lines person snitch and whistleblower!! Haha!!!! Oh boy!! What can I say?! Nick is being Nick!!!! He is about to get disqualified!!! He asked the referee if he”s f@&king dumb after winning the set!!!!!! On national TV!!! This is nuts!!!!!
Meanwhile, Rafa is just continuing to make me proud!!! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽😄
So was he penalised?
Nope!!! But now Tsistipas hit a ball towards some spectators almost hitting one of them! They both are asking for it!!🤣
How can you watch 2 matches at once Mona?!
Tsitsi should have been defaulted. They just showed the clip of what happened.
Hitting a ball into the crowd is automatic default..
Yes Sonego is playing much better. Rafa needs to maintain his level…
Amy, One on tv and one live stream! 🤪
On my cable here they’re showing Nick so I’m steaming Rafa!
Rafa should now keep his intensity bcoz Sonego is playing a bit better!! Hope we don’t have any third set dips here!!
Hear the crowd scream as Rafa stripped?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Rafa is so naughty!!
Sorry Mona! My reply is the post above!
NK wins the second set…
Rafa is playing out of his skin. Nice to see you back, grass court Rafa!
Vamos Rafa!
NK isup 4-1 on Tstitsi now.
NK wins the third set..
What is all this crap about the light from Sonego?
He’s been going on since 8