Rafael Nadal took a huge step in his injury comeback scenario as the clay court icon scored a revenge win over Alex de Minaur on Saturday to progress to the Madrid Masters third round.
The 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory came barely a week after the 37-year-old who is playing only his third event of an injury-recovery season, lost to the 11th-ranked Australian in Barcelona.
Nadal owns five titles in the Spanish capital but has been fighting injury for much of the last two seasons.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner earned his first victory over a Top 20 opponent since November, 2022.
Nadal finished in two hours as de Minaur double-faulted on his opponent’s second match point in front of a madly pro-Nadal crowd at the Caja Magica.
But despite his second win in a row this week, Nadal is not yet ready to pronounce himself back to lethal form.
“I’m not back yet,, but for moments, there was a good level,” he said. “I was able to do positive things.
“I’m super-happy to be back competing again. We played over two hours, that means a lot to me.”
Nadal ended with 16 winners and 20 unforced errors, while de Minaur was 33 unforced.
The first set lasted an hour and a quarter, with Nadal seizing it on his fifth chance.
The crowd here broke to start the second set and came close to a double break; he had to be satisfied with a love game for 6-5 and a final break of his opponent to earn victory.
“The last two years it has been about physical issues for me, not tennis’ he said. ” Let’s see if I can play weeks in a row.
‘Let’s see how far I can go and how I recover.”
With Stefanos Tsitsipas upset earlier, Nadal’s quarter of the draw has opened; the Spaniard next faces Pedro Cachin of Argentina.
