Rafael Nadal continued his comeback from injury with a commanding 6-1 6-0 victory over unseeded 16-year-old Darwin Blanch at the Madrid Open on Thursday.
The test against Blanch was a continuation in Nadal’s clay preparations and served as a good fitness test with the teenager looking to challenge the Spaniard at the back of the court. Nadal responded astutely to dispatch the American within one hour and 52 minutes of play.
After losing the first game to love, Blanch instantly responded with two aces to open his first service game. Despite a positive and aggressive approach, the American could not match Nadal’s return game and was broken to 30, allowing the Spaniard to seize an advantage.
Blanch, who received a wild card to the Madrid tournament and is ranked outside of the top 1000, picked up his first game to make it 3-1, holding Nadal to love.
Nadal continued his clay season and comeback from injury but doubts remain over his participation in the upcoming French Open. A hip issue kept the Spaniard sidelined for most of last season, and the Madrid Open is just his third tournament this year after Brisbane in January and Barcelona earlier this month.
But fitness was not a visible issue on court against Blanch, as Nadal’s years of pedigree culminated in a dominant display which saw the former world No. 1 wrap up the opening set within 28 minutes as he cruised to a 6-1 scoreline.
Blanch, taking part in just his second major ATP event, displayed moments of quality but struggled to cope with the ferocity of Nadal’s display and dropped 15 unforced errors in the opening set.
The 16-year-old threatened a response at the beginning of the second set, taking Nadal to deuce with some even baseline exchanges, but was again made to rue unforced errors as Nadal broke the youngster’s opening service game.
At 2-0 down and 40-40, Blanch hit a stunning cross-court forehand after a well-contested rally to open up advantage. Nadal, though, navigated the situation superbly to overturn the advantage and break the youngster’s serve for the fourth time in the match.
Blanch continued to try to better Nadal from the back of the court but the Spaniard’s class shone through in a dominant second set which saw the 16-year-old fail to pick up a game, despite going to deuce on three occasions.