Rafael Nadal powers down Nikolay Davydenko in the second round – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, began his campaign in style, thrashing former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, in straight sets in the second round at the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain on Wednesday. The Spaniard dropped merely four games in the entire contest, routing Davydenko in twin sets 6-2, 6-2 in just an hour and 20 minutes.
Nadal and Davydenko began by holding their serve in the first two games, evening out the score at 1-1. The Spaniard broke Davydenko in the third and fifth, capitalising on them to grab four consecutively and going up 5-1. The Russian hardly succeeded in winning one more game and lost the opener 2-6.
Currently ranked second in the world, Nadal banged in four aces and 74 percent of the first serves. The 10-time Grand Slam winner had a brilliant conversion rate, as he captured 12 of the 17 first and five of the six second delivery points. The left-hander did not come across any break threat and utilised two of the five opportunities he created.
In the second set, Nadal claimed lead straight away, as he hit a blow to the Russian in the very first game and consolidated on it to move ahead 2-0. The Spaniard struck again in the seventh and served it out at 5-2.
The Mallorca, Spain resident fired two aces and did not make any double fault. He delivered just 65 percent of the first serves but impressively converted 12 of the 13 of them into points. The 25-year-old lost merely three points on the second returns, pocketing 11 of the 14 in the second set.
Nadal, who was playing his first match at the blue clay courts of Madrid, criticised the surface by saying, "The court is not one that makes you feel comfortable. The court is a difficult court, it's very slippery and it makes supporting movements and getting back to defend very tough. But the only thing we can do now is turn the page and we are not going to get the red courts back tomorrow so we have to adapt to the blue courts and the conditions as well as possible.”
The Spaniard will play countryman, Fernando Verdasco, in the round of 16.
Nadal added, "I played much better than I expected. I am very happy to be in the third round and tomorrow I will probably have a very difficult match against Verdasco."
The 2010 champion, Nadal, has never lost to Verdasco, winning all 13 of their meetings.
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