By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Rafael Nadal launched his quest to regain the world No. 1 ranking dismantling Damir Dzumhur, 6-1, 6-0, in his Rome opener that spanned just one hour.
Photo credit: Internazionali BNL d'Italia Facebook
The only tennis task tougher than beating Rafael Nadal on clay is conquering the King of Clay after a dirt defeat.
Such was the formidable challenge facing Damir Dzumhur in Rome today.
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The result was predictably painful.
Launching his quest to regain the world No. 1 ranking, Nadal reeled off the final seven straight games destroying Dzumhur, 6-1, 6-0, to roll into the Rome round of 16 against either 19-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov or Dutch veteran Robin Haase.
The owner of a record seven Rome titles, Nadal can surpass rival Roger Federer and regain the world No. 1 ranking by taking the Rome title for the first time in five years.
Nadal conceded playing his standard brand of punishing ball-control baseline tennis was difficult amid the altitude of Madrid where he saw his 21-match clay-court winning streak snapped by Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals.
Eager to impose his game on Dzumhur in his Rome return, a ruthless Nadal reeled off 12 of the first 16 points.
Dzumhur held a game point in the fourth game, but on break point nudged an open-court volley into net as Nadal broke again for 4-0 after 20 minutes.
Quite a turnaround from Dzumhur's opening-round match where he permitted just four games dismissing another Spanish lefty, Fernando Verdasco.
Suffocating the world No. 31 with oppressive combinations, Nadal stormed out to a 5-0 lead before Dzumhur finally held.
That was Dzumhur's last stand.
Nadal never forgets a loss, knew Dzumhur upset him in their first meeting at the 2016 Miami Open and was in no mood for any drama today.
The 31-year-old Spaniard seized the first set in 34 minutes.
The top seed won 14 of 15 points played on Dzumhur's second serve and broke serve five times dispensing a baseline beat down.
Battering his opponent throughout the second set, Nadal closed in exactly an hour, raising his 2018 record to 19-2, including a 15-1 mark on clay.
Aiming for his 78th career title, Nadal is playing for his first Rome final since he bowed to Novak Djokovic, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, in the 2014 final.