Rafael Nadal kicks-off 2022 Rome campaign with a dominant victory over John Isner

| by Evita Mueller

The 21-time Grand Slam champion successfully eliminated his opponent's biggest weapon to easily advance to the third round of the 2022 Italian open in Rome.

Rafael Nadal and John Isner met for the eight time on the ATP courts as the tall American has never won a match against the Spanish King of the Clay. However, Isner once defeated Nadal at an exhibition event - the 2017 Laver Cup. At the 2022 Italian Open, the story was similar to the previous 7 meeting on the ATP Tour.

After not playing since the 2022 Indian Wells, and then losing in the quarterfinal of the 2022 Madrid Open, the experienced Spaniard is looking to get a strong result in the Italian capital as he prepares to fight for his 22nd Grand Slam title at the 2022 Roland Garros, where alongside Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, he will be the biggest favourite to lift the trophy.

"I didn't bite the trophy because of Rafael Nadal" admits Carlos Alcaraz
"I didn't bite the trophy because of Rafael Nadal" admits Carlos Alcaraz

As expected, both players started by holding their service games without facing a breakpoint until the seventh game. Surprisingly, it was the Spaniard who first faced a breakpoint as Isner had two chances to break Nadal in the 7th game of the first set. However, the Spaniard resisted and went on to win 11 out of the last 13 points in the first set to claim a 6-3 victory.

In the second set, the Spaniard started with a break and got a swift 2-0 lead early in the second set. Moreover, he was very successful in eliminating Isner's biggest weapon - his serve. During the whole first serve, the American hit only 1 ace and won only 50% of the points after the first serve.

Nadal's performance was improving throughout the match as he managed to get another breakpoint in the fifth game of the second set to seal his lead with a two-break advantage. He then added another break and easily walked towards a 6-3, 6-1 victory to set up a third-round clash with the thirteenth-seeded Denis Shapovalov.

"It was good for Rafael Nadal to lose in Madrid" claims Jim Courier
"It was good for Rafael Nadal to lose in Madrid" claims Jim Courier

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