Rafael Nadal battles past compatriot Pablo Andujar to move into third round – French Open 2011
King of clay and defending champion, Rafael “Rafa” Nadal battled past his compatriot Pablo Andujar in an all-Spaniard clash to secure a third round spot for himself at the 2011 Roland Garros on Thursday, 26th May.
Rafa took about three hours and twenty minutes to secure a straight, yet not so simple, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(3) sets victory against Andujar
A phenomenon here, Nadal holds five championships in past six appearances. Contesting in his seventh year here, Nadal survived a first round onslaught from the American giant, John Isner in the first round to secure a five set
win and a spot in the second round.
Playing his compatriot for the first time ever, Nadal opened serve confidently and rushed to a 1-0 lead without losing a single point. Andujar followed suit as he levelled the score at 1-1. However, a game later an errant Andujar
practically gifted away the game to the King as he sent one too many shots into the net. Rafa secured a 4-2 lead for himself. Determined to return the favour, Andujar broke Rafa in the seventh game and ninth game, before comfortably holding his serve in the
tenth to level the score at 5-5.
Losing not a single point in the next two games, Rafa clinched the first set 7-5 as Andujar failed to save three breakpoints in the twelfth game.
The higher ranked Spaniard went one up in the set lead – a close contested yet well earned lead.
The second set saw another see-saw battle between the two Spaniards as an early exchange of serves forced the scoreboard to keep ticking on even terms. A stray shot from Andujar at 30-40 in the eighth game put Nadal in the lead
as he consolidated on the break to go 5-3 in the second set before serving out the set for a 6-3 win.
Bouncing back in the third set, Andujar capitalised on an early break, as he raced to a 4-1 lead against the King of Clay. Desperate to stay in the game, Nadal bounced back from 1-5 to level the score at 5-5 after two breaks, several
deuces and even more rallies. Minutes later after successful holds of their serves, the match was forced into a tiebreaker.
Rafa continued his assault on his compatriot in the tiebreaker as he rushed into an early 2-0 lead, which he later extended to 5-1. Although Andujar managed to reduce the deficit to 5-4 in the tiebreaker, a combination of a errant
stroke from Andujar and a powerful ace from Nadal, allowed the higher ranked Spaniard to clinch the tiebreaker 7-3, sealing his straight sets victory and continuing his title defence at the event.
Nadal moves ahead to play either Croat qualifier Antonio Veic or Russian veteran Nikolay Davydenko in the third round on Friday, May 28th.
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