Nadal Survives Thriller in D.C.

Rafael Nadal defeated American Jack Sock in an epic 3-set battle at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (1).

In his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at the French Open in June, Rafael Nadal advanced into the third round in Washington, D.C. Rafa is making his career debut in Washington, and has only played four other tournaments in the United States in his career: Indian Wells, Miami, Cincinnati, and the U.S. Open.

Nadal won the first set comfortably 6-2 despite struggling to get any rhythm on his serve throughout the set, and much of the match. Not having played a match in almost two months, Nadal was timid at times and not going for much in the middle of rallies, perhaps some rust and making the transition from clay to the hard courts.

In the second set, Nadal started to limp a little bit going for Sock’s drop shots and looked uncomfortable throughout the rest of the match. In the pre-tournament press conference in Washington, Nadal said, “I had some issues with my foot and had to stop playing for 20 days (after Roland Garros).”

Jack Sock picked up his game however and wowed the crowd with some sizzling forehands in the final set. Sock broke Nadal’s serve in the opening game of the third set, but Rafa was able to break back shortly there after. It was a close final set throughout, ending up at six games all in the deciding set. Nadal won the first point on serve and then proceeded to win both of Sock’s service points. He ultimately ran away with the tiebreak winning it 7-1.

It’s unclear, as of now, what the extent of Nadal’s injury is, and if it is indeed the left foot again. He is scheduled to play 14 seed Lloyd Harris of South Africa in the Round of 16 next.