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By beating the American Stefan Kozlov, the Spaniard won his twelfth consecutive victory. Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas were also expeditious.
Rafael Nadal makes the perfect start to the season.
AFP
Rafael Nadal qualified for the quarter-finals of the Acapulco tournament on Wednesday evening by eliminating the American Stefan Kozlov (6-0 6-3), a result which gives him the best start to the season of his career, with 12 wins for 0 losses. World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, who might steal the ATP rankings from Novak Djokovic on Monday – in contention, he, in Dubai – for his part defeated the Spaniard Pablo Andujar (6-1 6-2).
“It’s always important to win as quickly as possible, but the most important thing is to win,” said Nadal. Tonight I won in two sets, that’s good news, and I’ll try to be ready for tomorrow (this Thursday) to face a tough opponent once more.” It will be the American Tommy Paul, 39th player in the world.
Thanks to this victory, the 12th consecutive, Nadal, world No. 5, remains undefeated in 2022, and registers the best start to the season of his career. In 2014, he stopped at 11 consecutive victories, losing to Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the Australian Open final – where the Spaniard won a 21st Grand Slam title last month, overtaking Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
“I never paid much attention to numbers. To be honest, I do everything to play well and prepare myself well to have good tournaments,” commented Nadal, regarding this new record.
Tsitsipas only loses one game
In search of first place, which he might snatch from Novak Djokovic on Monday, according to several scenarios established by the ATP, Medvedev will be opposed in the quarter-finals to the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka. The Russian might then find in the semifinals … Nadal, who had knocked him down in five sets in the final of the Australian Open.
Another favorite qualified for the quarter-finals, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas made short work of the American Jeffrey Wolf, swept away 6-1 6-0. In the next round, he will meet another American, Marcos Giron, in a clearer part of the draw since Alexander Zverev was expelled from the tournament – the German had repeatedly hit the referee’s chair with his racket following a doubles loss.
Rafael Nadal felt that the expulsion from the Acalpulco tournament of Alexander Zverev, who hit the referee’s chair with his racket, was “deserved”. “I have a good relationship with Alexander, but in the end I think the punishment is deserved. We cannot act in this way and I believe that he is aware of it, ”said the Spaniard.
Nadal, however, considered Zverev’s behavior an “exception”: “That’s not how Sascha usually behaves. Unfortunately, there is the image he gave yesterday (Wednesday)with social networks where everything sets fire to the powder, and in the end, there are millions of children who model their attitude on ours. However, we must set an example and show a minimum of respect.”
“I understand the frustration, I understand that in a moment of anger you can break a racket, I’m not going to criticize it more than that, but I don’t like it because I wasn’t brought up like that,” concluded Nadal.
(AFP)
