Rafael Nadal destroys qualifier Antonio Veic; progresses further in title defence – French Open 2011
King of Clay, Rafael Nadal destroyed Croat qualifier Antonio Veic in straight sets to move into the fourth round at the 2011 Roland Garros in Paris, France on Saturday, May 28th.
Taking less than two hours, Nadal secured a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 victory over his much lower ranked opponent.
In their first meeting ever, Rafa came out firing in the first set as he forced the Croat to commit several errors. A pressured Veic gave away the very first game to Rafa without winning a single point to trail 0-1 in the set score. Consolidating on this break of serve, Nadal continued to pressurize his opponent into committing even more errors, eventually leading the set 4-0.
Veic finally managed to put himself on the scoreboard in the fifth game. However, serving in the seventh, Veic sent all of his shots astray and lost the game without bagging a single point.
The Spaniard recorded a 100 percent winning percentage on his first serve including nine winners and secured a breadstick victory as he capitalised on his opponent’s eleven unforced errors.
In-form Rafa was all set to dominate, as he seemed to have finally shaken off the sluggishness he exhibited in his previous two matches here.
Nevertheless, determined to stay in the game, Veic put up some resistance in the first game of the second set. Matching blow for blow against the Spaniard, Veic pushed the game to five deuces before finally bowing out to trail 0-1. However, two successful holds of serve later, Veic had levelled the score at 2-2, though, this was a short-lived happiness.
A winner down the line and an into-the-net shot from Veic put Rafa into a 4-2 lead in the second set. Receiving at 5-3, Veic overshot at 30-40 and gave away the set to Nadal at 6-3.
Going strong in the match, the Spaniard now held a comfortable 2-0 lead in the set score.
A broken Croat failed to pose any resistance in the third set. Breaking Veic thrice in the third set, Rafa reeled off six straight games to secure a bagel set victory for himself.
The defending champion here, Nadal continues his title defence here as he moves on ahead to play either compatriot Fernando Verdasco or another Croat Ivan Ljubicic in the next round.
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