With a crosscourt forehand that forced his opponent to return into the net, Rafael Nadal has completed a highly successful return to action.
The 22-time grand slam winner had not been seen on court since making a brief comeback in Brisbane in January, his only tournament since the Australian Open in January 2023.
He had not played on clay since winning the French Open title for the 14th time in June 2022.
But on a court named after himself, and backed by an adoring crowd, he brushed aside world number 62 Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 25 minutes in the opening round of the Barcelona Open.
That set up a second-round clash with Australian number one Alex de Minaur, who will provide a much tougher test than the nervous Cobolli, who made 41 unforced errors.
“I’m just having fun, happy to start with a victory,” Nadal said on court.
“When you are at an advanced age it makes things even more tough [to come back] but to be able to continue to be on the tour for a few days and practise with the guys, and to be able to compete a little bit, it means a lot to me.”
Despite his ranking having slipped way back to 644 in the world, Nadal would fancy his chances against de Minaur, who has never made a final on clay.
The world number 11 is in career-best form but is ramping up to the French Open, where he has never made it out of the second round.
Nadal, who leads the head-to-head 3-1 against the Australian, confirmed he was easing his way back.
“I’m not going to do anything that doesn’t make sense right now. I’m not going to go out there and serve like crazy,” Nadal said.
“I have to take it easy because that’s what’s needed at the moment.”
The winner of Nadal-de Minaur will face either Daniel Altmaier or Arthur Fils in the third round after Altmaier beat another Australian, Alexei Popyrin, 6-3, 7-6(7/4).
Second seed Andrey Rublev destroyed his racket at the end of a 6-4, 7-6(8/6) defeat by Brandon Nakashima that continued his poor run of form.
Rublev also lost in straight sets in the opening round in Monte Carlo and Miami, and the second round in Indian Wells.
In Munich, Australia’s Chris O’Connell and Aleksandar Vukic both lost in straight sets in the first round to lower-ranked opponents.
O’Connell was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Daniel Taro who, being ranked 85, is 27 places below him in the world.
Vukic lost to 6-2, 6-3 Jurij Rodionov, ranked 118, 53 places lower. The Austrian will now play top seed Alexander Zverev.
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AAP
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