By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday February 26, 2020
Rafael Nadal came through a first-time meeting with Miomir Kecmanovic unscathed, thanks to some blistering shotmaking.
Photo Source: Guillermo Sanchez
Two-time Acapulco champion Rafael Nadal was pushed at times by NextGen star Miomir Kecmanovic but the top-seeded Spaniard came through a tough tussle with a 6-2 7-5 win to set up a quarterfinal with South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon on Wednesday night in Acapulco.
Nadal improves to 17-2 lifetime at Acapulco and 10-3 on the season with the victory.
”He’s a very dangerous player,” Nadal said of the talented 20-year-old Serb. “Young, with a lot of power. I’m very pleased with the victory. I played a very good first set and that’s important news for me. That gives me confidence.”
The first set was a dominant one from Nadal, as he hit his peak early, before Kecmanovic had a chance to calibrate his game in his first meeting with the legend. But to his credit, Kecmanovic hit back effectively in the second set and Nadal had trouble closing out the contest from 5-3 up when Kecmanovic really caught fire and attacked with aggression. The World No.50 broke back for 4-5 as Nadal served for the match and then leveled at 5-all.
But the steady pressure from Nadal’s side of the court did not relent and he took the final games to avoid any further complication.
With the victory Nadal kept alive slim chances of returning to No.1 at the end of the week. If Nadal wins his third Acapulco title, Novak Djokovic will have to reach at least the semifinals in Dubai this week.
The World No.1 meets Karen Khachanov tomorrow in the quarterfinals at Dubai.