Most people probably thought it would be easy for Nadal to beat his compatriot Andujar, but tricky windy conditions together with great resistance and aggressive play from Andujar made the three setter a whole lot tougher than predicted. Andujar was attacking Nadal and although the world number one managed to win the first two sets, he was down 5-1 in the third. Then Nadal launched his famous fighting skills and together with Andujar’s nervousness he managed to win the third set in a tie-break.
Nadal has now had to fight quite hard in both his opening matches which should have had a taxing effect on just about anyone besides Nadal. Sometimes this just seems to make him stronger.
Andy Murray was tested against Simone Bolelli, but the Italian has the worst score against top 10 players on tour (0-26!) and even though he has a nice power game on both wings he’s probably mentally given up on beating the best players in the world.
It was pretty much business as usual for the rest, Soderling beat Ramos, Verdasco beat Malisse, Fish beat Haase, but then the small upsets started coming (tricky conditions is a great equalizer) with Melzer losing to Rosol, Davydenko losing to Veic, Baghdatis losing to L. Mayer, and F.Mayer losing to Falla.
Today we’re all waiting for Djokovic vs Del Potro but there’s also a mouthwatering encounter between Gasquet and Bellucci on the menu.
What do you guys think? Can Del Potro take a set or two or even the match against the seemingly invincible Serb?
