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1/6/09 4:47 PM | Ricky Dimon
Rafael Nadal begins his season on the ATP Tour with an impressive straight-set win over Fabrice Santoro on Tuesday. The victory propels Doha's No. 1 seed into the second round.
No. 1 player in the world Rafael Nadal made a stunning 2009 ATP debut on Tuesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, crushing Fabrice Santoro 6-0, 6-1. The Frenchman is still ranked a solid 51st in the world at 36 years of age, but he could nothing against a scintillating opponent in this first-round clash.
"It won't be easy for me at all," Santoro said of his first career meeting with Nadal when the draw was revealed on Saturday.
That turned out to be a gross understatement. Nadal came out on fire, breaking serve in the opening gave of the match, and he streaked to a 6-0 first set in just 18 minutes. The Spaniard fired 17 winners to a mere once unforced error throughout the opening frame of play.
More of the same continued in set two, as Nadal once again broke serve right away. After Nadal held for 2-0, Santoro finally broke through, saving one break point before holding serve. With Santoro at the net on game point, Nadal flicked a stunning one-handed backhand pass that clipped the tape. Santoro had time to scramble to it and respond with a drop-shot winner. Two of the game's best sportsmen then smiled and high-fived each other at the net.
That, however, is just about where the fun ended for Santoro. Nadal did not lose another game the rest of the way, surging to victory in just 46 minutes with one final blistering forehand. The No. 1 seed finished with 28 while limiting his unforced errors to just five.
Nadal will meet one of two qualifiers--either Karol Beck or Michal Przysiezny--in the second round. He has never faced either player.
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spot on, vamosrafa! rafa is steadily making improvement and it's beautiful to see! keep it going, rafa!
memi , 1/6/09 5:56 PM
That was pitch perfect from Nadal. His tennis was almost enough to distract from the awfulness of that yellow shirt.
cherylmurray , 1/6/09 8:01 PM
haha how right you are Cheryl :-)
RafaNadalGirl20 , 1/6/09 8:36 PM
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that ws almost perfect..tactically nadal is showing massive improvement.HE is playing on the baseline whenever possible..forecourt play is improving and his sense abt the game is really improving,the willingness of attacking weak serves is also there and he looks very healthy.The court complements his topspin groundies and he is really tough to beat this weekend i think,and the fact that the matches are played at nite in a cool atmosphere,this also helps nadal.
vamosrafa , 1/6/09 5:05 PM