In his first match in over six months, Rafael Nadal swept aside fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Italian Open.
The nine-time Rome winner came through 6-1, 6-1 against 18th-ranked Carreno Busta, a recent semifinalist at the US Open.
“It was a perfect start for me. It was solid, good shots on the forehand and backhand. I didn’t expect to play that well,” Nadal said.
“Maybe Pablo was a little bit tired from a great tournament there in New York, but thinking about myself, I played a very solid match and very serious and doing a lot of things very well. So very happy.”
The World No. 2 has not played since winning in Acapulco at the end of February, opting to skip the US hard court tour because of coronavirus concerns.
The 34-year-old will next play either Canadian Milos Raonic or Serb Dusan Lajovic for a place in the quarterfinals.
Nadal, a 12-time French Open winner, is the second seed behind world number one Novak Djokovic in the tune-up for the final Grand Slam of the season at Roland Garros on September 27.
But he does not believe the brutal switch from hard to clay surface will be a disadvantage for his rivals at the French Open.
“If Roland Garros is this week, maybe yes, (but) Roland Garros is two weeks away so I don’t think so.”
Bopanna advances
Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov upset the top-seeded duo of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal 3-6, 6-3, [10-5] to move into the quarterfinals.
Important results (second round): Men: Denis Shapovalov bt Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-4; Stefano Travaglia bt Borna Coric 7-6(2), 7-5, Grigor Dimitrov bt Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-0; Rafael Nadal bt Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-1.
Women: Elina Svitolina bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-6(4); Karolina Pliskova bt Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
