Rafael Nadal signed up highly-anticipated clash with his rival Novak Djokovic in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics after beating Marton Fucsovics.
That iconic match between Djokovic and Nadal will happen at the Olympics. Fans haven't seen them battle properly in a while because the last time it happened was in 2022 at Roland Garros in the quarter-final.
The Spaniard won that match, and now he'll have a chance to do so again on the same court, even though not in the same competition. This is an Olympic match, which makes it even more interesting considering how much the Olympics mean to Djokovic and what he's trying to do this year.
To get there, Nadal had to beat Fucsovics, and he had serious problems in this match. There was a report about Nadal suffering from some sort of leg injury after a setback in practice, but none of that was at show last night in the doubles, a match which he won with Carlos Alcaraz, and also not in the singles in this match, which he also won.
The match opened with an early break for Nadal, which was an ideal start for him. He didn't waste any time taking it to Fucsovis, and the Hungarian simply couldn't deal with the pressure from the other side of the net.
That 3-0 lead became a 5-1 lead, and ultimately Nadal took the opening set 6-1. He served well, which was important as it allowed him to dictate the rallies. He was strong on his serve, dropping only a handful of points.
Fucsovics didn't serve as well, which exposed his weaker serve. He also tried to outhit the 14-time French Open champion on the Court Philippe-Chatrier, which ended badly, of course.
He totaled nine unforced errors in the first set, which lasted only seven games. Nadal was playing well from the baseline, with five winners and three unforced errors. He did what he needed to do to put his opponent in a tough spot, and Fucsovics didn't have any solutions.
The second set didn't go as well for the 38-year-old because he suffered an early break, which completely unleashed Fucsovics, who was smashing the ball exceptionally well.
Everything that sailed wide in the first set didn't sail wide in the second, and it made a lot of difference. It was all going well for Fucsovics until 5-3 when Nadal played a vintage game out of nowhere to break and make it 5-4.
Up until then, Nadal looked flat in the second set, but he found his best when he needed to. Unfortunately, that didn't happen in the follow-up game because he allowed break points and then gave it away with a poor drop-shot attempt.
In the decider, Nadal was able to create some early break chances, but his opponent saved both of them. Then, it completely flipped as Fucsovics had three consecutive break points, but Nadal saved all of them.
Eventually, Nadal got the break and held it for a 4-2 lead. From there, he remained calm and was able to win the match in the third set, triumphing 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to set up the highly-anticipated second-round match with Djokovic.
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