The Spanish Rafael Nadal and the Australian Alex de Miñaur, numbers 2 and 24 in the world, offered nearly three hours of quality tennis in the United Cup, which were resolved with a victory for the local player 3-6, 6-1 and 7 -5, the first he has achieved over the Spaniard in four matches.
After winning the initial set and breaking in the first game of the second, Nadal was overwhelmed by the physical display and aggressiveness of his rival's blows. He reacted magnificently in the third, but a burst of acceleration from De Minaur at the decisive moment decided the crash.
Both the Australian team, which leads 1-0, and the Spanish team were already ruled out to go to the final at the Sydney venue, from which one of the participants in the four-way final will come out, something that Great Britain will do. , who have already beaten both, Spain 4-1 and Australia 3-2.
Despite the defeat, the match left a handful of positive notes for Nadal. Especially his ability to react when the game got complicated. And, furthermore, what he was looking for in this competition: minutes on court against demanding rivals. De Minaur was.
In the first set, Nadal immediately responded to a break from the Australian and leveled the match without delay (3-3), preamble to the great eighth game, in which he went from De Miñaur's 40-0 to make a new 'break'. With his serve he signed the fourth game followed by him and with it he closed the sleeve.
On the way, good exchanges in which the Spaniard went from keeping up with the pace of the local player to imposing his own, with an increasingly damaging backhand. De Minaur gave up his first serve of the second set, twice outclassed by Nadal. There was nothing to suggest that the Spanish would not add more games in that set.
The Australian clung to the track to recover that service and signed the next blank. The party was alive. After almost twelve minutes, he also signed up for the fourth game, in which he displayed desire, game and legs and signed another break (3-1) that put his sleeve on a tray. As he grew up, Nadal did not give up, the clash offered excellent moments, but the Australian was always superior.
Nadal wasted four break points in the second game and lost his serve in the fifth, but in a new forceful reaction he recovered it in the next and raised his level another notch. With 5-5 and serve, Nadal gave up three break balls and lost the first with a very long forehand. It was enough for De Miñaur to keep his serve to close the game and he did it in a big way, in white.
On December 31, on his return to official competition after months of absence, Nadal could not avoid defeat against the British Cameron Norrie (3-6, 6-3 and 6-4). Nadal's next commitment will be the Australian Open, starting on January 16.
