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Rafael Nadal misplaced his opening set on the US Open for the primary time in his profession however was buoyed by his restoration to beat Rinky Hijikata.
Nadal is brief on matches after struggling an belly tear at Wimbledon and Australian wild card Hijikata seized his alternative on Arthur Ashe Stadium with an excellent first set.
However Nadal, who’s but to lose a grand slam match this 12 months, hit again right away and clinched a 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3 victory to arrange a second-round conflict with fellow veteran Fabio Fognini.
Nadal stated: “Clearly it was a troublesome match. I feel I began not that unhealthy the primary couple of video games however then I had some alternatives that I used to be not in a position to make.
“I feel I didn’t play a superb recreation with my serve. Then he had the break. Then I used to be a little bit bit nervous. First match right here in New York after three years, night time session, it’s at all times thrilling. I went by means of this robust second.
“However then I feel I performed higher. It was not good. However I’m joyful. Second match in 50 days, roughly. Indirectly it was not the day to play good. It’s a day to simply make the job finished, and that’s what I did. Glad for that.”
Italian Fognini handed Nadal his first ever grand slam loss from two units up in 2015 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Carlos Alcaraz survived a bodily battle with Sebastian Baez (Seth Wenig/AP)
(AP)
Nadal’s countryman Carlos Alcaraz, the third seed, was given a troublesome afternoon for 2 units by Sebastian Baez earlier than the Argentinian started to wrestle with the brutally scorching situations and retired trailing 7-5 7-5 2-0.
Ninth seed Andrey Rublev and eleventh seed Jannik Sinner had been each pushed to 5 units however got here by means of towards Laslo Djere and Daniel Altmaier, respectively.
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