It’s a rare sight to see Rafael Nadal lose his opening three service games on a clay court but that’s exactly what happened on Friday afternoon in Monte Carlo as Guido Pella pushed the world No. 2 all the way.
The Argentine was a point away from moving 5-1 up on the 11-time champion in the opening set but the relentless Spaniard clawed his way back into the contest and was soon 5-4 up.
Though Pella kept the first set interesting and even forced a tiebreak he ultimately went down 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 in a two hour and 22 minutes battle.
Nadal played just three breakers in the entirety of the 2018 clay court season and hasn’t been taken to a tiebreak in Monaco since facing John Isner in 2015. But, in typically inevitable fashion, he came through unscathed.
‘Tennis have these kind of things no? You need to accept every day the situation,’ he said. ‘Every day is a different day against a different opponent, different feelings. One day is windy; one day is not windy.
‘One day you have better feelings; another day you have a little bit worse feelings. The important thing, at the end of the day, is accept everything.
‘Knowing that anything can happen is easier to accept, and then just find a way to be through when the day is not perfect for you, because then you have another chance the next day.
‘Matches like today, being honest, helps even if I don’t play my best for moments. If I am able to recover myself well, I believe in terms of physical performance, in terms of confidence, in terms of battling every point, have been an important match for me.’
Pella deserves great credit for his performance but it was a below-par display from the Spaniard. Potentially the first signs of life beyond a Nadal-dominated affair on the clay? Perhaps premature.
What is clear is that Nadal won’t have to face any of the player tipped to cause him problems on the dirt, with Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev all crashing out before the semi-finals.
Djokovic’s exit came at the hands of young Russian Daniil Medvedev just minutes before Nadal stepped onto the main show court and the Spaniard admitted it’s always ‘strange’ to see the world No. 1 beaten.
‘Have been a good match,’ he added. ‘Yeah, the match looks like gonna be for Novak at the third set, because winning that second set, tough one, looks like Daniil was a little bit more tired,’ he said.
‘Is true that Novak, I think, played a bad game in the 2-1, I think so. And then Daniil played well. He’s playing so well. He already won a lot of good matches in this event.
‘Always, when Novak lose, always seems strange because he’s super solid. But everybody is human, no? And every day you play against another opponent that wants to win, too. That’s how it works. This is sport.’
Medvedev has found form and will face an inspired Dusan Lajovic in one half of the draw, while Nadal will meet either Fabio Fognini or Borna Coric.
