MADRID: Rafael Nadal enjoyed a winning return after a six-week injury break, opening his Madrid campaign with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) success over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic on Wednesday.

The Spanish star had been sidelined with a rib injury since his Indian Wells final defeat in March but showed little sign of rust as he skipped into the third round.

Nadal said his preparation for the tournament was “non-existent” due to his rib problem limiting his ability to train and was thrilled by how well he played against one of the most in-form players of the season.

“Today I was able to play one hour, 55 minutes against an opponent that was playing really well in these last months, so a really good victory, a lot of value to it,” said the 35-year-old Mallorcan.After a fairly routine opening set and a brief rain delay, Nadal faced significant resistance from the world number 32, who was broken in game five of the second set but struck back immediately as he started to find his range from the baseline.

Nadal found an opening at 5-5 and broke on his first opportunity, thanks to a long backhand from Kecmanovic. The number three seed could not serve out the win though, dropping serve as Kecmanovic forced a tie-break.

The pair were neck and neck, gifting each other mini-breaks before Nadal finally secured the win in just under two hours with an ace.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev began his title defence with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over former US Open champion Marin Cilic.

Fourth seed Tsitsipas beat French wildcard Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-4, while Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime both won in straight sets.

British ninth seed Cameron Norrie edged past John Isner 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 to advance

to a last-16 clash with teenage star Alcaraz, but fifth seed Casper Ruud lost in three sets to Dusan Lajovic.

Earlier on centre court, Ons Jabeur marched into the women’s semi-finals with a crushing 6-3, 6-2 win over former world number one Simona Halep.

After avenging her Charleston final defeat to Belinda Bencic in the previous round, the Tunisian world number 10 reversed her result against Halep from Dubai three months ago, sweeping the Romanian aside in just 67 minutes.

The first ever Arab tennis player to crack the top 10, Jabeur is through to the second WTA 1000 semi-final of her career where she faces Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.Halep drew first blood, inching ahead 2-1 but Jabeur scooped the next three games and sealed the set with a flashy point that ended with a forehand down-the-line winner.

Jabeur continued to pepper Halep with her signature drop shot, earning two breaks in the second set en route to a convincing victory.

Jessica Pegula, the 12th seed, eliminated Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-2. Her next opponent is Jil Teichmann, the Swiss who defeated Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-4.

On Tuesday, top seed Novak Djokovic recorded a straight-sets opening win over Gael Monfils to set up a showdown with Andy Murray.

The 20-time major champion ensured he would keep his number one ranking for at least another week by extending his winning record against Monfils with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at the Caja Magica.

Djokovic, who entered the contest 17-0 head-to-head against the Frenchman, needed a win in their second-round match to avoid surrendering the top spot to second-placed Daniil Medvedev.

The Serb saved three break points in his first two service games before he wrested control of the match from Monfils and grabbed a one-set lead in 47 minutes.

Djokovic had to save two break points as he served for the match before he booked a last-16 clash with Murray, a 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 winner against Canadian 14th seed Denis Shapovalov.

Teenager Carlos Alcaraz of Spain won his first match as a top-10 player, opening his Madrid account with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Sixth seed Andrey Rublev needed to rally from 0-3 down in the decider to overcome British wildcard Jack Draper 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Kalinina produced a gritty performance to eke past Emma Raducanu 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 and reach the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time.

Meanwhile, former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu’s run came to an end at the hands of American 12th seed Jessica Pegula, 7-5, 6-1. Pegula wrapped up the win in under two hours and set up a quarter-final against Tormo who became just the fourth Spanish woman to reach the last eight at the Madrid Open with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Daria Kasatkina.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2022