Nadal survives scare in Rome

Djokovic edges closer to McEnroe’s record after resounding win.

ROME:

World number one Rafael Nadal was ultimately able to hold his own against Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-0 in the Rome Masters, overcoming a sloppy start.

There were, however, no such difficulties for man of the moment Novak Djokovic who took his winning streak  to 35 matches with an embarrassingly one-sided 6-0, 6-3 destruction of Pole Lukasz Kubot.

Following his defeat to Djokovic in the Madrid final last week, the 24-year-old Nadal came close to losing a second successive match on clay for the first time in his career before eventually romping home in the deciding set.

The first set went to a tie break where the Spaniard netted a forehand to hand Lorenzi a set-point, which he converted when Nadal missed with a wild smash. The world number one again went up a break in the second set but he lost that advantage in the sixth game after he sent a cross court backhand pass the wrong side of the side-line.

Nadal forced two break points in the next game but Lorenzo saved them both including the first with a cheeky dropper, to nudge in front 4-3. However, that was the last game he would win as the Spaniard stepped on the accelerator and reeled off nine games in a row.

Djokovic sails through

Meanwhile, Djokovic’s victory edged him closer to American John McEnroe’s record of a 42-match winning start to a season.

Having played, and won, in the previous two weeks in Belgrade and Madrid, the world number two said he was happy to have got through the match without expending too much energy. “I played well enough to win but I was playing an opponent who made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “I have to be happy because I spent just one hour on court.”

Djokovic proved that he was not about to let up his hot streak with a ruthless display. The Serb raced through the first set taking all of his break-point opportunities, making half the number of errors and four times as many winners.

Kubot gathered some strength and put up more resistance in the second set, holding three times from 0-3 down. Djokovic sealed victory  when Kubot blazed a forehand into the tramlines on match point.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2011.