A birthday at the height, in the best scenario, the same as always, and with the gift of victory for a well-deserved pass to the third round. Even an old friend, Richard Gasquet, sneaked into Rafael Nadal’s party, who was nothing more than a mere spectator of the triumphant ride (6-0, 7-5, 6-2) of the Manacor over the Philippe Chatrier. In the night session, the most select and innovative in Paris, Rafa raised his arms to make his way to the third round of Roland Garros with his best tennis finery, which scared the rivals who will try to fight him for the title.
35 years go a long way, and in the case of Nadal to lift up to 13 titles at Roland Garros. Ambitious like few others in the history of sport, the Spaniard only thinks of adding one more drink to his showcases, and the second stumbling block in his mission responded to Gasquet’s surname. Local tennis player, the great promise of the generation of ’86 – the same as Nadal – and, although diminished, one of the talents without imitation of the circuit. In the French debit, his 16-0 against in the head to head with Rafa , which did not give him to be optimistic in the match.
The meeting had to be a party and Nadal put everything on his part so that everything was favorable. The first set had all the favorable incentives for the manacorense, including the bow, in the shape of a donut, which decorated the display of the king of the earth in the Chatrier . Rafa dominated with the right, the backhand, the serve and the volley, while Gasquet resigned himself to waiting for an opportunity that neither came nor aimed to appear.
In the best celebrations, the protagonist gives a speech, a monologue, and Nadal did his job. However, instead of a microphone, the Spaniard carried his racket, which did the job. Everyone paid attention to him, praised him and wished him the greatest possible happiness in his day. Rafa , meanwhile, continued to delight them with his tennis, excellent in all areas and that at the end of the second set had only given Gasquet two games, punished in Nadal’s ‘birthday’.
Exhibition and lapses in the second
Rafa enjoyed himself, but as a result of this there was also a slight relaxation that spurred his rival, on the canvas minutes before but that drew strength from weakness, and from his extraordinary one-handed backhand, to equalize the fight and force, break of service to Nadal through, to a very equal resolution of the second set.
The blow would have affected anyone with virulence, but Nadal knows them all, and more at Roland Garros. Beyond the night schedule and the soullessness of the stands, the Manacoran knew how to act, and he did it with surgical precision to deliver the final blow to the set with a new break. With a 7-5, Rafa was placed a mere partial to seal the pass to the third round of Roland Garros.
Champion Resolution
Nadal had seen his rival raise the level on the track, now with nothing to lose and stripped of the frustration derived from the initial rosco. The exchanges were level but on the right of the Balearic there was almost always one more point of rhythm and quality. Thus, the final break was a matter of time and the Spanish number one, third in the world, would find it in the sixth game, suffered, but in which Rafael’s ball rhythm would end up unnerving Gasquet .
The rest of the game, a tribute to the birthday boy, who after two and a quarter hours of battle put an end to his party to raise his arms and sign the pass to the third round of Roland Garros, where the British Cameron awaits him on Saturday Norrie, with the mission of, to say the least, snatch the first set of the tournament from the thirteen-time champion.
