Playing his 250th tour match on clay, Rafael Nadal defeated Jarkko Nieminen, 6-4, 6-3, claiming his 38th consecutive victory in Monte Carlo, a tournament he has famously won the last seven years.
Those numbers are slightly more impressive than his performance today, but that’s not surprising given that the last time Nadal was seen (or not), he was forced to withdraw from Miami with knee problems that prevented him from being able to practice on clay as much as he would have liked. Playing without any knee strapping, Nadal was by and large content to stay well back and trade blows with an opponent he has beaten six times and whom he outguns on every level.
Two sloppy service games from Nieminen, one early in each set, gave Nadal the cushion he needed to be able to feel his way back in. Otherwise he might have been forced to do more, as Nieminen put in a good performance, playing all-out aggressive tennis and showcasing some beautiful hands at the net. He had a lot of success wrong-footing Nadal and frequently earned the advantage in the rally, only to over-press and put short, attacking balls into the net—as is the nature of the beast when playing someone with Rafa’s phenomenal movement and defensive capabilities. Nadal’s serving was poor by his standards—52 percent for the first set, dragged up to 65 percent for the match—and Nieminen often managed to get to 30-30 when returning, but squandered a couple of opportunities while others were snuffed out by infrequent but well-timed service winners. Otherwise, Nieminen was entertaining rather than genuinely threatening.
With the first set under his belt, Nadal did begin to attempt to hit deeper and dominate the rallies, as we are accustomed to seeing from him on this surface. It generally worked, but at 5-2, 30-30, he made an unusual and nervy error—tracking a high defensive lob from Nieminen, with all the time in the world to pick his spot, he put the ball in the net; the Finn went on to take his first break point, making it the third match in a row (by my count) that Nadal has been broken when serving for the win. Fortunately for Nadal, he had an insurance break, but he did not need it; an excellent net exchange culminating in a slice down the line which Nieminen could not get back, followed by a deep return, gave him two match points. A colossal double fault by Nieminen then handed Nadal the match.
Plenty to improve upon, then, for Nadal, but a relatively serene victory and a third-round encounter with qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin should allow him to do just that.