Rafael Nadal makes winning return to Queen’s
French Open champion Rafael Nadal has made an almost effortless transition from clay to grass with a straight sets victory in his opening match at the Aegon Championships.
The world No. 1 defeated Brazilian serve-and-volleyer Marcos Daniel 6-2, 6-2 in just 52 minutes in the second round at the Queen’s Club, where Nadal is preparing for his to return to Wimbledon in just a couple of short weeks.
So far, with just two days gap between winning the championship in Paris and his first match at Queen’s, Nadal’s practice on the grass courts has been limited, a 20 minute hit-up in the rain in Kensington earlier in the week his first chance to reacquaint himself with the surface at the venue. Not that the 2008 champion showed much evidence of rust on grass in the rain-interrupted match against Daniel today.
The Spaniard may have missed his chance to defend both his title at Queen’s and at the All England Club last year while he was sidelined due to knee tendonitis but Nadal has returned to London in 2010 with every chance of snatching back both crowns from their current owners – Andy Murray at Queen's, and Roger Federer at Wimbledon.
Today’s victory, admittedly against a player ranked as the world No. 112, is the perfect start for the 24-year-old who has now won 23 straight matches, after completing the clay court season undefeated and with three Masters 1000 titles and the Roland Garros crown in his pocket.
Murray is also through to the third round at Queens, while Federer is undertaking his Wimbledon title defence preparations at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, where the 16-time Grand Slam champion won his first round match against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.
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