What a match at Queen’s!
Rafael Nadal was full of confidence after winning his 1st title on grass in 5 years in Stuttgart, but he was back to reality in London. The world no.10 played a good match against an inspired Dolgopolov, but that wasn’t enough to lose 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-4.
The match was so much fun with Alexandr playing at his very best against a good Rafa. The Ukrainian won the opener 6-3, but he couldn’t convert a match point in the 2nd set breaker (Rafa defended it well with a great serve) to the set. At that point there was the impression that Nadal would have won the decider, but Dolgopolov kept on playing at very high level to recover a 2-4 deficit and win 4 consecutive games. The match finished after 2 hours and 13 minutes. Match Stats.
Dolgopolov: I had a really good match
Alexandr commented “Overall I’m really happy with the match. Not even because I beat Nadal but the way I played and the way I fought back after a disappointing second set. I think overall I had a really good match.”
Nadal: I didn’t play a bad match
Rafa wasn’t 100% disappointed with his tennis “I was a break up in the third, and then he played some good points. I missed a few balls… Nothing to say against me. I played against an uncomfortable player in the first round here and I had my chance. I didn’t play a bad match, but matches here are sometimes decided by just a few things, and I was not lucky enough today. I probably didn’t play enough aggressive when I was up a break at 4-3.”
Dolgo will play Garcia-Lopez in the next round. Head to head is 2-1 for the Spaniard, but Dolgopolov should be the favorite to get to the third round.
| IT WAS DOLGO TIME |
