Rafael Nadal made a glorious return to the ATP tour as he defeated American Dennis Kudla in the first round of the Mexican Open. The world number returned to Acapulco as the winner of the Australian Open, where he took down Daniil Medvedev. Now Nadal has won 21 Grand Slam titles, breaking Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s record of 20.
The Spaniard made quick work of Kudla as he won in straight sets of 6-3, 6-2 as he continues to be on an 11-game winning streak. The three-time Acapulco champion cruises to the victory as Kudla struggled throughout the game and even failed to get a breakpoint. Throughout the game, Nadal had eight aces with zero double faults. He also won an incredible 96% of his first-serve points.
After the game, Nadal talked to ATP about how this game was a confidence booster for him. Rafa said, “It has been a positive start, a good victory in straight sets. That’s always very positive for the confidence. I think I played a very solid match, a good effort today. Of course, there are a couple of things that I can do better, but in general terms, I played well so I can’t complain at all.” The 35-year-old will take on his sparring partner Stefan Kozlov who upset Grigor Dimitrov in a three-hour-long match in the first round.
Rafa started the game with the serve and took a commanding 40-0 lead as he won the first game in five minutes. Kudla retaliated with a levelling game, only to lose three as the set score was 4-1. Then both alternated wins as Nadal won the first set 6-3.
Surprisingly in the second set, Kudla took a 1-0 lead, but this happiness didn’t last long as Rafa won the next five-game to guarantee him the victory. Kudla finally pulled his second game but the 21-time Grand Slam winner sealed the game by winning the second set 6-2.
After the victory, Nadal also made an Instagram post where he was expressing elation as he enters the second round. The post was captioned, “Happy with my first-round win here in #Mexico #amt2022 ?”
