Rafael Nadal was able to uphold the words of his coach, Carlos Moya, who said that this match against Alex de Minaur would be very different from the one in Barcelona.
A bit more than a week ago, the Spaniard played de Minaur at the Barcelona Open and was beaten easily in two sets. It was a decent match from the 22-time major winner, all things considered, but the Australian was clearly better.
This match was a bit different, which Carlos Moya had predicted a few days before. He didn't want to say that Nadal would win, but he said that the match would be more competitive.
This was from Nadal's perspective because the opening set was a really close affair, despite a controversial moment. De Minaur had an early lead, and then the home crowd favorite fought back, with the set ultimately ending in a tie-break.
The Spaniard was slightly better and started hitting some great shots, while de Minaur missed a lot. The script flipped, and de Minaur was able to fight back and make it 6-6 despite being down 2-6 previously.
What followed after that was a huge backhand by Nadal, which landed in the court, and a miss by de Minaur, which ended the set. Nadal heavily celebrated and carried that hype momentum into the second set, where he was able to break de Minaur early.
The crowd heavily backed the Spaniard, knowing that this might be his final time in Madrid, and it certainly helped. La Caja Magica was closed due to rainy weather in Madrid, which amplified the atmosphere even more.
Minor trouble happened at 3-2 for Nadal when de Minaur applied some pressure, but it didn't really matter much as Nadal was able to hold his serve.
He found a way to keep it in two for the final score: 7-6(6), 6-3. It wasn't a clean match, but Nadal, who is looking better and stronger, certainly played an impressive match to beat de Minaur.
On top of that, he got a little but lucky with the draw, as he will be taking on Pedro Cachin in the next round, who eliminated the 20th-seeded Frances Tiafoe.
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