Rafael Nadal breezes past Lukas Lacko to clear round two – Gerry Weber Open 2012
Seven-time French Open Champion, Rafael Nadal, commenced his grass court season with an easy victory over the 58th ranked Slovak, Lukas Lacko, in Gerry Weber Open on Thursday. He posted straight sets scores of 7-5, 6-1
and reached the quarter-finals in Halle, Germany.
The 24-year-old Slovak is yet to get off the mark against the Spanish superhuman. He has contested on four different occurrences and lost in all of them; this defeat being the latest of all of them.
World number two, Nadal, lost the first point of the match on his serve but smashed three mind-startling winners to muscle down the 24-year-old Slovak. Both players exchanged breakthroughs in the fourth and fifth game of the set
that kept the scores together. No drama was witnessed in the following games of the set until the Slovak tennis ace prepared to serve and stay in the set. Lacko saved four breakpoints but couldn’t hold the top seed Spaniard from bagging the second breakthrough
of the set that rounded off the first part.
Nadal didn’t hold back in the second set and broke serve twice on the trot to register an unassailable lead of 5-0 upfront. He was on the verge of registering the first bagel of his grass court campaign but the Slovak tennis professional
restored some respect and held serve to deny Nadal from posting a bagel.
The Spaniard won 69 points in total and bagged four of the allotted eight breakpoints. He served well and registered an impressive first and second serve conversion rate. So, the situation looks good for the French Open champion.
It’s all about his composure and ability to adjust to the transition from clay to grass.
Talking to the interviewer at the end of the match, Nadal said, “At the beginning, it was more difficult to return. I tried to put more balls inside, trying to return with a bit of slice. That put me into a bit more of a rhythm.
In the second set, I played with [fewer] mistakes, which is the most important thing. I'm happy. Every match here is very dangerous after playing on clay for two and a half months. I'm very happy to be in Halle after a long time without coming here. For me,
it's always special to be back in a place where I haven't been in quite for a while.”
Nadal will be up against the eighth seed German star, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the quarter-final.
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