[Sport]Nadal marks distances with McDonald and qualifies for the third round

[SougarLord]

 

Roland Garros first round. Rafael Nadal defeats Egor Gersarimov, 83rd in the ranking, debutant in the final draw of the tournament, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-2. Novak Djokovic surpasses Mikael Ymer, 80th, who last year won his only match in Paris, 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3. Roland Garros second round. Nadal defeats Mackenzie McDonald, 236th in the world, who on Monday won the first victory of his life on the sand of the French capital, 6-1, 6-0 and 6-3, in one hour and 40 minutes.

 

This Thursday, Djokovic will face Ricardas Berankis, 66th, who in his six previous appearances in the tournament was fired on his debut. This Friday, the 12-time champion will meet Stefano Travaglia, 74th, who has also added in this edition his only two victories over Parisian soil. With the last one, the Italian liquidated Kei Nishikori on Wednesday.

 

We do not forget Dominic Thiem, recent champion of the US Open and finalist at Roland Garros, a somewhat different case. He beat Marin Cilic, winner of the 2014 US Open, now down, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3, and in the second game he defeated 6-1, 6-3 and 7-6 ( 6) to Jack Sock, top ten not long ago, now risen from the catacombs.

 

EXOTIC MATCHES

The Grand Slam, with a 128-player roster, often offers exotic matchups for the big favorites in the early stages, a different scenario than the Masters 1000, where attractive crossovers can occur from the start.

 

Mackenzie McDonald, 25, with a protected ranking after overcoming a serious injury, had the second round of Delray Beach as the highest achievement this season. He had never played against Nadal. He had never set foot on the Philippe Chatrier. He played the United States university league until 2016. His best result in a Grand Slam was the eighth at Wimbledon, in 2018.

NO CONCLUSIONS

He started out happy, he ever went to the net on Nadal's second serve, he threw some left. Until he lost the serve in the fourth game. The rest was a massacre. Victim of a certain desperation, the North American even tried a service below, already halfway through the second set. It was a landslide victory, which does not invite too many conclusions, given the weakness of the adversary.

 

As is logical from what we point out, no one has yet put to the test the man who aspires to equal Roger Federer's 20 Grand Slam titles and who already has 95 victories and only two defeats since he first played the tournament, in 2005 At the moment, neither the change of balls nor dates nor the weather, in this less adverse game, have undermined the performance of Nadal, who wins with authority and manages energy to tackle higher levels.