Rafael Nadal 'happy' as he returns to action with doubles win alongside Casper Ruud in Sweden
Updated 15/07/2024 at 22:16 GMT+1
Rafael Nadal returned to action with a win as he and Casper Ruud teamed up to beat Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela in the men’s doubles at the Bastad Open. It is the first time the Spaniard has competed at the Swedish venue since his win in 2005 as he continues his preparation for the upcoming Olympics. Watch all the action from the Paris 2024 Games live on Eurosport and discovery+.
Highlights: Nadal and Ruud beat Andreozzi and Reyes-Varela in doubles at Nordea Open
Video credit: SNTV
Rafael Nadal was back in action as the Spaniard teamed up with Casper Ruud to beat Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela 6-1 6-4 in the men’s doubles at the Nordea Open in Sweden.
It is the first time Nadal has competed at the clay-court venue since he won the singles title in 2005 as he continues his preparation for the Paris Olympic Games at Roland-Garros.
“It’s a pleasure playing with a good friend and an amazing player like Casper here in Bastad,” Nadal said after the victory. “Personally, I am happy and I think it was a good match.
“We played quite well in the first time we played together and I’m happy to be back here after almost 20 years.
“I have great memories from this place from 2003, 2004 and 2005, so I am enjoying this week and hopefully can keep going.”
Nadal opted to skip Wimbledon this year and has not played since losing in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev.
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Video credit: SNTV
But he was able to shake off the rust and power to victory in 79 minutes of court time alongside world No. 9 Ruud.
“Like Rafa said, I think it was a good match,” Ruud said. “When it comes to the rain delays, I’m used to it more than Rafa, being from Norway and he is from Spain.
“He is getting old so I’m not sure how his body feels when he has to stop and start all the time, but he did well. We played good doubles and it was a lot of fun to share the court with Rafa as always.”
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The pair will play either Mariano Navone and Cameron Norrie or Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin in the next round, while Nadal is set to meet Leo Borg in his opening singles match.
Should Nadal advance, he will meet Cameron Norrie in the second round after the Brit beat Jozef Kovalik in straight sets.
The first set was a tight affair but Norrie came through it in a tie-break before pouncing at 5-4 in the second set to seal a 7-6(4) 6-4 victory.
“It was quite difficult,” Norrie said. “I was pretty nervous at the beginning, I'd not played much on clay coming straight out of Wimbledon.
“It was not easy and I thought I managed my serve and competed really well. I served unbelievably well in the tie-break so that helped get me through it.
“I played one of the best games of the match at the end.”
Neither player was able to muster a single break point in the opener before Norrie reeled off five points in a row from 3-2 down to win the tie-break.
Norrie failed to convert four break-point chances in the second set but forged three match points when he opened up 0-40 on Kovalik’s serve at 5-4, securing the win at the second time of asking.
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