Two-time former champion and fourth seed Rafael Nadal began his Wimbledon campaign in style, easing past Australia’s John Millman 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 into the second round at the All England Club.
Coming off an unprecedented tenth French Open title three weeks ago in Paris, fourth seed and 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal marked his return to the grass courts of SW19 in style, brushing away unseeded Australian John Millman 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round here at Wimbledon. After being forced to miss the third major of the season last year due to a wrist injury, the Spaniard had question marks surrounding his form on the lawns of the All England Club, but Nadal answered those questions emphatically moving on in an hour and 45 minutes, striking an impressive 33 winners en route to victory on No. 1 Court.
In the opening set, it was a dominant display of power tennis from Nadal on the grass, breaking easily immediately before backing that up with a solid hold of serve off two awry forehand errors from Millman. The Australian saved four break points with some confident play to get on the scoreboard before Nadal resumed rolling, taking care of his serve and then ultimately securing the double break for 4-1 off a strong forehand winner. The two-time champion saved another break point in the sixth game of the set to go ahead 5-1, before closing out a dominant opening set 6-1 with his ninth winner of the match on the forehand side.
The second set was a slightly more competitive affair with the first three games all going to serve with a 2-1 lead to the fourth seed. In the fourth game of the set, the Spaniard utilized his trademark forehand to inflict more damage upon his 137th ranked opponent, breaking easily to go up 3-1. Despite the routine break the previous game, a sloppy game from Nadal gifted the break back with a pair of backhand errors bringing the scoreline to 3-2. The 15-time Grand Slam champion recovered strongly the following game, once again going up a break for 4-2 courtesy of a few errors off the racquet of the Aussie.
The 15-time Grand Slam champion recovered strongly the following game, once again going up a break for 4-2 courtesy of a few errors off the racquet of the Aussie. Nadal consolidated that advantage with a hold to love for 5-2, putting himself a game from a two-sets-to-love lead over Millman on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon. The unseeded Millman took care of his serve to force Nadal to serve out the second set, something the two-time champion did with ease, closing out the second set 6-3 off a crisp backhand volley winner.
In the third set, it was more one-way traffic from the world number two, breaking the Australian easily to begin the set before backing that up with a comfortable hold finished off with an ace for the 2-0 lead. Nadal kept up his dominance off the Millman serve, securing a double break with ease off another error from the world number 137, consolidating that advantage in the following game for a seemingly insurmountable 4-0 lead.
Despite only being two games from the loss, Millman refused to go down without a fight, taking his first hold of serve in the set before snatching one of the breaks back with a clean backhand winner to lessen the gap to 4-2. That confidence was short lived though for the unseeded Aussie, as the two-time champion broke straight back off another blistering forehand winner to go up 5-2 and give himself the chance to serve out the match. Nadal would not let his opportunity slip, serving out the opening round win to love to advance to the second round 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 here at SW19.
Following the match in the post-match interview, Nadal said of his performance, “I’m happy how I finished the match, hitting the forehand again. For all the players it’s so special playing here and the history I have here, five finals in a row, so I’m very, very happy to be back and thanks to the crowd for the support,” commented an exuberant two-time former champion.
“I have been playing good tennis, the clay court season was very emotional and now I have an opportunity to play well on grass,” concluded the fourth seed, who will next play American left-hander Donald Young in the second round on Wednesday.
