MILESTONE: Rafael Nadal Battles Past Feliciano Lopez to Claim 1000th Match Victory

All the attention was in Paris today as World No.2 Rafael Nadal was playing his first match after winning the French Open 2020. It was the first round at the Rolex pairs Masters 2020 in which he was up against fellow countryman Feliciano Lopez. However, the match turned out to be a topsy-turvy ride for Rafa as he just managed to find a way to win. The final scoreline was 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Interestingly, it was Marc Lopez who was coaching Feliciano Lopez in the match, the same guy with whom Nadal won the Olympics gold. Also, with this win, Nadal has now registered his 1000th ATP match victory.

Set-1: An eye-opener set for Rafael Nadal

It was certainly not one of the ideal starts that Nadal had anticipated. The 39-year-old Lopez broke in the very first game and took the initial lead. He carried his momentum and went on to win the next game as well. Nadal was feeling the pressure. He was already two games down and even committed a double fault in the very first game.

Rafa tried to bounce back and managed to bring the margin narrower. However, he failed to break in any of the games. He did earn a break-point in the fourth game but failed to capitalize on that. It was becoming clear as whosoever served would go on and win the game.

Nadal failed to break even when the scoreline was 5-4 with Lopez leading. The 39-year-old managed to win 4 straight points in the tenth game and thus won the 40-minute long set 6-4.

Set-2: Rafa survives close set with an incredible tie-breaker

Serving first in the set, it was Rafa who took the early lead this time. Lopez soon equalized it at 1-1 in the subsequent game. It was the fourth game that became intriguing as it ended after witnessing 5 deuces. Rafa managed to win 2 break-points but could not capitalize on either of them. He eventually lost the game and the scoreline was 2-2 at this time.

In the sixth game, Nadal again failed to break despite winning 3 breaking-points. Clearly, he was not able to win baseline points. Lopez once again survived and leveled the scoreline at 3-3. It was going neck-to-neck. Soon it was 4-4.

Soon, it was Rafa who showed some exceptional tennis and took the lead at 6-5 after winning the 4 back-to-back points. Some fans even started praying for Rafa to win the next game ut, Lopez kept his calm and won the next game to take the set to a tie-breaker.

Tie-breaker continued with the same story as the one who was serving was taking away the point. But soon, Rafa won 2 back-to-back points and won the set 7-6 on his third set point.

Set-3: Game, Set, Match for Nadal

Nadal surely gained momentum after winning the last set. He went on to win 4 consecutive points in the first game of the set and broke for the very first time. In the very next game, he saved 2 breaking-points and was now leading 2-0. The French Open 2020 winner could sense victory and did not want to make any mistakes to give any sort of chance to Lopez.

Nadal was inching closer towards his 1000th ATP match win. However, Lopez struck hard in the third game reduced the margin to 2-1. The serving game began and yet again the one who was serving started winning. It came to 3-2 with Nadal leading.

Nadal once again extended his lead to 4-2 but Lopez fought hard to bring it back to 4-3 in the very next match. Nadal did not waste time and won the next game to extend his lead to 5-3 and was now just one game away from creating a milestone. However, Lopez showed that he had still got it. He returned it in style to Nadal by winning 4 straight points in the next game.

Serving for the match, Nadal finished the match quickly in the very next game, winning the 45-minute set 6-4, and thus the match.