Rafa Nadal has once again tasted the honeys of victory in his first match in official competition after the break he had due to his foot injury. The Balearic and his great friend Jaume Munar, With whom he has signed up to play the Melbourne Summer Set doubles tournament, they beat Argentines Sebastián Báez and Tomás Martín Etcheverry 6-3, 3-6 and 10-4 after an hour and a quarter of battle.
The duo formed by Nadal and Munar showed a great rapport in the first round, winning vSeveral blank games and breaking the serve of the pair formed by Báez and Etcheverry in the sixth game to close the set on serve and with a blank game 6-3.
In the second set, a quick break by Báez and Etcheverry in the second game allowed them to take advantage in this second set without giving options with their serve to Nadal and Munar, so they prevailed 3-6 and forced the third and final set.
In the super tie-break of the third set Nadal and Munar were more solid with their serve at the time of being the first to reach ten points, something they achieved with the break of up to four minibreaks and, the last of them, they gave the victory in the tiebreaker 10-4. An important victory for Nadal and Munar, who in the second round will have a difficult commitment against Andrei Golubev and Franko Skugor, but which also serves as a stimulus for Nadal to face his debut in the individual table against the winner of the match between Marcos Giron and Ricardas Berankis.
Kyrgios gets off Melbourne and Murray falls to Bagnis
The first day of the Melbourne Summer Set in the individual men’s draw left us the abandonment of Ilya Ivashka and the Australian Nick Kyrgios, in his case alleging asthma problems.
Regarding the competition Andy Murray, who returned to compete in Australia almost three years later, could not return with a victory on Australian soil as he fell in the first round against Argentine Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Murray stood up and was very aggressive against a Bagnis who managed to save 11 of the 13 break balls he had to face and who endorsed Murray four breaks that the Scotsman could not return in one of his last tests before his return to Australian Open.