Despite winning enter sleeves, the Spaniard suffered and did not leave a good feeling
Rafa Nadal U.S. Open debut in 2011 with a sustained and hard-fought victory in three sets on Andrey Golubev. The Balearic current defending champion, will carburizing machinery to solve the next obstacle that comes in the tracks of Flushing Meadows: Nicolas Mahut.
The last time Nadal hit the cement of Arthur Ashe Stadium was to taste the sweetness of victory. A year ago, now his victory at the U.S. Open final to Novak Djokovic, a victory that would close the circle of Grand Slam for the Spaniard conquered. A season later it seems that the scenario has changed. At least its setting. The champion comes with physical and emotional concerns in New York, but also wanting to be claimed. So far exceeded the always difficult obstacle of her debut by defeating Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev by an aggregate score of 6-3, 7-6 (1), 7-5 after two hours and forty-nine minutes.
Nadal jumped into the blue carpet of the Centre Court with serious, concentrated expression, wearing new Nike clothes (elastic yellow and white with black pants) and willing to implement the improvements that, theoretically, has tested these days in the city skyscrapers after failing to sign on the mini-American tour after the expected results. Soon improvements were noted in the service, getting chained aces and services reached 214 km / h. However he was caught in a bold and aggressive Golubev, who with his sartenazos from the bottom track and uploaded to the network, put the head of Rafa doubts led to yield his serve in the fifth game. Nadal was quick to react. He stepped forward and began the recital. He helped the intermittency of its rival and the execution of impossible points of the house brand, a situation that led to the signature of the first set after winning four consecutive games.
More breaks against that throughout the last edition Golubev again sink their teeth early in the second act, signing a new rupture with an accuracy (or) sa volley into the net. In just 50 minutes of play, Rafa had given the same breaks in the tournament last year. And would add one more after losing his serve-and-white with a double fault. The Kazakh seemed to dominate the situation, but it showed that the party big was coming. With 5-3 and enjoyed five service 'set points' (40-0 included) and two more the rest in the next game, all with the same result: water. Then they poisoned him alone, arguing in Italian with the umpire (Carlos Ramos) double bounces to a nonexistent one left him. Nadal signed the break and took to win, but tennis was righteousness and take the set tie-break. It was there where he threw Rafa experience marked the steps correctly and created a trap to fasten the second round.
The pupil of Massimo foreskin not collapsed and continued to set the pace based on hit winners. Bore no resemblance to the player who has won just six games in the season (30), where he signed a streak of 17 straight defeats. If we add that knew when and where to attack a decaffeinated Nadal, it is normal to note that at least could have done September 1st Spanish. And I write in the subjunctive because despite having a 5-2 in favor (Two breaks included), Kazakh stumbled again with the same stone. Poisoned his own medicine, so choking blow up, dizzy from the wheel on which the party had become, Golubev saw Rafa, it seemed 'dead', which resurfaced Phoenix to put the lace to match the fast track and a 'passing' house brand.
Rafa knows he can not score any point in this quote (defending 2,000), but win back the U.S. Open precedence between the two (7-5, 7-6 to the Frenchman). would be an outstanding performance. There are still six rivals to beat to get such an undertaking. The first will be Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, marathons `expert ', who beat Colombian Robert Farah by a score of 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 and 6-0 after three hours in a match played on Runway 6. Interestingly, Angers is one of the few players on the circuit that has a `head-to-head 'favorable to the Spaniard (0-1), with the quarterfinals of the Queen's 2007 single