De Minaur Knocks Out Nadal
Alex De Minaur became the first Australian man to ever defeat Rafael Nadal on clay defeating the aging Spaniard 7-5, 6-1. Although Rafa was not at his best, returning from injury, he is still the King of Clay, and beating him on the surface is a feat not many have had success with over the years.
De Minaur played wonderfully in the match and implemented a smart gameplan, looking to run Rafa around as much as possible. He integrated the drop shot game effectively and largely controlled the mathc from the baseline.
Nadal is a 12-time winner of the Barcelona Open and the very court they played on, Pista Rafa Nadal, is named after the 37-year-old legend of the sport. The win was a big one for De Minaur but unfortunately the celebration was short lived as just one day later he had his matchup with Arthur Fils.
Fils Spoils De Minaur’s Tournament
Coming off the high of taking down Nadal, De Minaur faced off with French teenager Arthur Fils with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
Ranked 36th in the world and only improving, Fils is not an easy player to matchup with. However, the 11th ranked De Minaur was understandably favoured coming in.
The match began with both men doing their jobs, making quick work of each of their first two service games. At 2-2 it was De Minaur who struck first. The Australian number one found himself with two break points and converted the second to take a 3-2 lead.
He appeared to be in control of the match as he consolidated the break with a hold at love.
Fils would then hold his next two games and De Minaur held his in between leading to an opportunity to serve for the set at 5-4.
The game went to deuce, and with advantage to Fils in what could not have been worse timing, De Minaur double faulted.
He then held confidently and thanks to two more crucial double faults by De Minaur, Fils broke again and took the opening set 7-5.
The momentum for Fils translated to the second set. His opening service game was a little shaky, but he ultimately held, and then swiftly broke De Minaur and consolidated the break for a 3-0 lead.
De Minaur held his next serve as did Fils. He then broke the Australian for a 5-1 lead with a double fault once again playing a factor.
De Minaur showed guts and determination, breaking back to make it 5-2 but it was too little too late. Serving to stay in the match, De Minaur was unable to convert five game points, and eventually dropped the game, set, and match.
Jordan Thompson Falls to Casper Ruud
On the other side of the draw, Australia’s Jordan Thompson faced a similar fate against Casper Ruud. The two time French Open finalist Ruud is one of the world’s very best on the surface, which Thompson found out.
The match wasn’t all that competitive as Ruud immediately raced out to a 5-0 start. By the time Thompson found his footing the first set was a lost cause, as he dropped it 6-1.
The second set was better, but the result was still never really in doubt as Ruud seemed in control the whole time en route to a 6-4 set victory.
