Nadal advances in the US Open with a new comeback and a small scare

MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal qualified this Thursday for the third round of the United States Open, fourth and last 'Grand Slam', after eliminating the Italian Fabio Fognini, against whom he also had to come back to win in four sets (2- 6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1) and with a little physical scare.

After having to lift a partial in his debut against the Australian 'wild card' Rinky Hijikata, the Balearic repeated the script against the San Remo, although this time his comeback was more complicated because he was also down in the second round.

The four-time champion at Flushing Meadows also took a heavy hit from his own racket, which bounced off the ground and hit him in the nose during the fourth set. The man from Manacor began to bleed and had to stop the game, admitting that he even feared that he had suffered a nasal fracture.

Nadal was not as solid as last Tuesday and did not play his best tennis, signing up to 37 unforced errors for only 20 winners, although he was much superior from the third round to a Fognini who made a surprise plan at times like when he dropped him in 2015, then with the Italian recovering from having lost the first two sets.

And the start of the Spaniard in the Arthur Ashe was not the one desired by the second seed, victim of his mistakes and the inspiration of his always unpredictable rival. This settled with a quick break and he had no trouble winning the first set after breaking another.

The panorama did not improve for the Manacorí in the second. Fognini was able to make him 'break' in his first three services, a situation that he knew how to compensate for his first breaks on the Italian's serve, but that did not prevent him from going 4-2 up, at which point the clash would change .

Nadal did not break down, he recovered the deficit and took the last four games to even the match. The Spaniard gained confidence at the same time that Fognini was losing it with the passing of the minutes and was only able to win three more games in the remainder of the duel.

The winner of 22 'Grand Slams' was only disturbed by his blow to the nose, but he did not relax to seal his pass to the third round where he will face another 'old acquaintance' like the Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who did not He still knows what it is to beat him in his sports career after 17 matches.

For their part, on the night in New York, both Roberto Carballés and Cristina Bucsa said goodbye to two of the top seeds. The man from Tenerife was able to force the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who needed four sets (6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2), while the Cantabrian fell to the American Danielle Collins 6-2, 7- 5.