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Nadal blazes through to Australian Open second round
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Spain's Rafael Nadal (left) hits a return against Australia's James Duckworth during their men's singles match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 14, 2019.
(AFP/William West )
W
orld number two Rafael Nadal blazed into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 demolition of Australian wildcard James Duckworth.
The Spanish 17-time Grand Slam champion appeared back to full fitness after an injury-plagued 2018 as he raced through in 2hr 15min.
"Not easy to come back after a lot of months especially against a player playing super aggressive on every point," Nadal said.
"He came on with a lot of determination and made it hard to be on rhythm. For me it is so special to be back, especially on Rod Laver Arena."
Nadal had promised to unveil a remodelled serve action at the first Grand Slam of the year and it seemed to be going smoothly until Duckworth broke the second seed to love as he served for the match at 5-3 in the third set.
It brought a huge ovation from the home supporters and the world number 238 held for 5-5.
But Nadal composed himself and won his next service game from 15-30 down to take a 6-5 lead before breaking Duckworth again for the straight sets win.
He will next play either another Australian Matthew Ebden or Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff who face off later Monday.
Nadal pulled out of his Brisbane warm-up event two weeks ago with a thigh strain but insisted his injury woes that saw him limp out of both the Australian Open and US Open last year were behind him.
"It was sad not to play in Brisbane. I had a small issue on the leg and the doctor wouldn't allow me on court even if I wanted," Nadal said.
"It's always different pains appearing in the first weeks back after a while. I am trying to be better and better every day. I had a good week of practice before this tournament."
