Rafa Nadal is back. If in his debut he managed to get rid of Dominic Thiem with great solvency, today the Mallorcan tennis player has swept the court against the Australian Jason Kubler. In one hour and 23 minutes Nadal had time to take both sets without giving a chance to a completely outclassed Kubler.
Both participated in the tournament as guests, but from the first point the Spaniard made it clear that he had not lost any of his competitiveness. He overwhelmed the Australian, giving him an impressive 5-0 run to put the victory on track. Kubler, who had problems with his right elbow throughout the match, could do little and went into the first set at 6-1. He competed better in the second, but not enough to avoid defeat (6-2).
“I started playing very well, with determination. “It was a very positive match,” Nadal assessed after the match. Visibly tired, the man from Manacor acknowledged that he needs to continue accumulating hours of play, but said he felt competitive: “Being able to play tomorrow (the quarterfinals) means a lot to me and achieving two wins on my return to the courts makes me very happy. Every day that I can continue playing is good news for me. I feel competitive and that’s all I want,” he stated.
His opponent in the quarterfinals will be the Australian Jordan Thompson, who will arrive more rested after having passed the round without needing to play due to the withdrawal of his rival, the Frenchman Ugo Humbert. The game will be tomorrow, no earlier than 11 in the morning, at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane. The other quarterfinal pairings are Safiulin-Arnaldi, Rune-Ducworth, and Hijikata-Dimitrov.
