Rafael Nadal beats Thomaz Bellucci in the first round – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Two-time former champion, Rafael Nadal, made a slow start but recovered in time to claim victory against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci in straight sets 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-3 in his opening match at the Wimbledon Championships on Tuesday.
The Spaniard dethroned Roger Federer to conquer the All England Club in 2008 and regained his title in 2010. He could not defend his title on both of the occasions, as he was suffering with injury in 2009 and lost to Novak Djokovic
in last year’s final.
Nadal failed to play at his actual level at the start of the latest match, as he lost opening four games to trail 0-4. However, the Spaniard picked up momentum after that, striking back twice and snatching four in a row to level
the proceedings at 4-4. The next four games went with serve to take the score to 6-6 and force a tie-breaker. Nadal played flawlessly later on, as he did not allow the Brazilian to win even a single point, grabbing seven consecutively and capturing it 7-6(0).
After clinching a close first set, Nadal kept the winning momentum with him, as he snatched breaks in the sixth and eighth game, capitalising on both of them to seal it 6-2.
In the third set, the Spaniard struck in the second game to move ahead 2-0 but Bellucci hit back immediately to even out the proceedings at 2-2. The world number two, Nadal, dropped just one of the following five games and grabbed
it 6-3.
Nadal is trying to become just the second player after Bjorn Borg to capture back to back French Open and Wimbledon titles on three occasions.
During the post match press conference, he said, “I think today I didn't play my best match. I think especially in the first set, I played [a] little bit too nervous - not knowing exactly what to do. My movement was a little bit
in [a] defensive way, [but] not in aggressive way. [In] the second and third sets I played better, even if I had a big mistake in the third at 2-0, 30/0. I felt in that moment I started to hit better the forehand. That's the most important thing for me.”
The Spaniard added, “I need to keep improving. [It’s] going to be a difficult tournament, but I am here to try my best, as I did every year.”
Nadal is pitted against Czech Republic’s world number 100, Lukas Rosol, in the round of 64.
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