Rafael Nadal advances at US Open
Rafael Nadal survived a first round scare at the US Open on Tuesday, but eventually took control in the third set to advance to the second round. The World No. 1 looked frustrated at times against the 93rd-ranked Teymuraz Gabashvili before prevailing 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-3, for the victory.
The Russian was able to surprise Nadal with a strong service game, as Nadal failed to break Gabashvili’s serve until midway through the third set. With the set tied 3-3, Nadal finally broke through after two hours and 45 minutes to take a 4-3 lead and then won the next three games to close out the match.
"Very tough match tonight," said Nadal, who had made his way comfortably past the Russian in their previous two encounters. "My serve worked well and I hope to continue like this. It's not my best shot, but I always work hard at improving it. If I am to have chances to win here one day, I need to serve well."
Gabashvili, who was certainly up to task on Tuesday night had his chances and could have taken an early lead in the match, but was unable to recover off missed shots in the first set tiebreak eventually won 7-4 by Nadal. Gabashvili then had another shot to take the second set tiebreaker but put an easy forehand into the net that would have tied the score at 4-4. Nadal took the second tiebreak 7-5 to take a two-sets lead.
Gabashvili who had struggled against Nadal in the past came out strong in the third, despite dropping the first two sets in the fashion that he did. With both players not dropping serve, it looked liked the match was headed for a third-straight tiebreaker before Gabashvili was finally broken to go down 3-4. However he certainly did not go down without a fight in the crucial seventh game of the set. Trailing 15/40, Gabashvili was able to save two break points and get the game back to deuce, but eventually was unable to save a third break point netting a return into the net while Nadal had the advantage. After Nadal held serve to make it 5-3, he then closed out the match with another break of serve.
Nadal’s next match will be against Uzbekistani Denis Istomin, who defeated Argentine Maximo Gonzalez 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 in his first round match. Istomin reached his first ATP World Tour final last week in New Haven, having lost to Sergiy Stakhovsky.
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