Barcelona Open: R for Rafa, R for Revenge

Rafa avenged his defeat to Nicolas Almagro. Rafa defeated Almagro in straight sets 6-3;6-1.

The scene looked familiar. Barcelona. Center Court. The same two gladiators on either side of the net.

Would Almagro best Nadal again like he did last year or would Rafa get his revenge ?

A tantalizing prospect. The outcome of the match would indicate a certain reversal of fortunes for Rafa for the rest of the clay season.

SET 1

Almagro started the match on his serve. It was a good decision he made as he displayed some aggressive shot making punctuated with an ace to put himself first on the score board. Rafa’s strategy was pretty clear from the beginning of the match – target Almagro’s backhand. It is a tried and tested strategy that often works for Rafa against opponents who play a single-handed backhand. Almagro, at times, did find it difficult to control the ball off his backhand wing.

Both players seemed to be patiently constructing points and waiting for the right opportunity to pull the trigger. They held their serve quite comfortably till 2-2. In the fifth game, Rafa did see a small chance to break Almgaro. However, Almagro kept his nose front with some of his own power play and aided by some tentative play by Rafa.

The first deuce of the match came by in the seventh game with Almagro on serve. From being 40-15 up, he found himself facing a break point. Almagro looked the nervous of the two at this point. He blinked first as Rafa broke him on a second break point opportunity with a sizzling cross court pass that painted the tramline.

With his dad Sebastian Nadal and the football star Neymar cheering him on, Nadal did not look back as he consolidated the break quite comfortably. Most of Almagro’s unforced errors, 17 overall and counting, were coming from his forehands down the line. Some impatience from Almagro and some scintillating tennis from Rafa resulted in Rafa sealing the First Set 6-3.

Before the start of the Second Set, there was some drama in the stands as a certain Scot proposed to his girlfriend Olivia – a huge Rafa fan. Rafa did not seem to be bothered by it one bit as he neither smiled nor looked up. He was as focused as ever and went about his rituals during the break.

SET 2

That focus, however, did not seem to help Rafa as Almagro came out firing on all cylinders. He broke Rafa in the very first game and swung the momentum to his side. Almagro could not hold on to that advantage as Rafa wasted no time in leveling the score at one game apiece.

Almagro’s unforced errors came fast and furious as he was broken again to fall behind 1-3 in the Second Set. He made errors while changing the direction of the ball and yet again failed to find his range with the forehand down the line. With Almagro failing to make any fundamental changes to his game, Rafa dominated the proceedings to stay ahead at 4-1. With another Almagro backhand sailing wide Rafa earned another break and was now close to the finish line.

Serving at 5-1, Rafa’s confidence building process seemed to be gaining steam. He was striking the ball clean and his first match point arrived after an hour and twenty two minutes.

Almagro played some spirited tennis to save four match points. He found some of his best forehands in that game and seemed to be enjoying the match. It was too little, too late. With Almagro making 35 unforced errors and being on the defensive during most of the match, the result could not have been any different.

Nadal earned his fifth match point in the 21st minute of the game and this time around he had no problem closing out the match. He fired an ace! The Revenge was complete. The Scoreline: 6-3,6-1.

With a muted fist pump and a wry smile on his face, Rafa heaved a sigh of relief along with his fans all over the world!