Rafael Nadal on Tuesday said he had limited expectations at the Barcelona Open as he made a triumphant return from injury, beating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion had not played a competitive match since January, but eased past the 62nd-ranked Cobolli in 85 minutes to reach the second round.
The former world No. 1 has seen his ranking slip to 644 after missing all of last season following the Australian Open. His comeback at the start of this year hit a stumbling block when he felt a hip injury flare up in Brisbane.
Photo: EPA-EFE
For Nadal, a 12-time winner in Barcelona, it was his first appearance on clay since he won the French Open almost two years ago, but the Spaniard was keen not to get ahead of himself.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, last week’s Monte Carlo Masters champion, earlier this week said he would not be surprised to see Nadal reach the final on a court named after him.
“Today to say that I am favorite I think is stupidity, Tsitsipas knows that it’s not the case,” 37-year-old Nadal said. “I understand what he says as respect for what I have done in this tournament. Everybody knows I am not favorite to win a tournament.”
“It was a good start — when you return you can’t get rid of the doubts in one day, above all, on a physical level,” Nadal told RTVE. “Within what it could be, it was a good first round. He made mistakes and I think I played the game that I had to play.”
Meanwhile, Brandon Nakashima dumped a raging Andrey Rublev out in the first round with a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) victory.
The American, ranked 87th, ousted the world No. 8, who made five double faults and only forced one break point in the match.
Nakashima edged the first set by breaking the Russian in the ninth game for 5-4 and then surviving a break point before serving out.
Rublev, second seed at the tournament, saved four second-set break points, but tumbled to defeat in the tie-break after sending a backhand long.
The Russian smashed his racket repeatedly on the ground before storming off.
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