Nadal Triumphs in Madrid Open Return, Defeats Blanch in Dominant First Round

As he made a successful comeback to the Madrid Open on Thursday, April 25, Rafael Nadal did not make a mistake. The World No. 1028 Darwin Blanch of the USA presented a straightforward five-set test to the five-time winner. In winning 6-1, 6-0 in the Spanish capital on the clay court, Rafael Nadal showed no mercy toward his opponent, who was 16 years old.

Rafael Nadal, who has battled to recover from a muscular ailment that kept him out of the Australian Open and the hard-court swing in the United States, picked up his fourth victory of the 2024 campaign. After missing the Monte Carlo Masters, Rafael Nadal started his clay-court swing in the Barcelona Open. However, he did not appear to be at his best and lost in the second round of the ATP 500 competition.

Rafael Nadal had intended to stay competitive and say goodbye to a clay-court competition that was one of his favorites. On the eve of his first-round match, the 37-year-old gave a gloomy news conference, claiming that his physical condition wasn’t at its best and that if things don’t get better, he might not play Roland Garros.

Simply too good 👏@RafaelNadal kicks off his Madrid campaign with a 6-1 6-0 win against teenager Darwin Blanch!#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/aujVWPvUVA
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 25, 2024

But on Thursday, on Madrid’s clay court, Nadal was at ease and performed well as he crushed the 16-year-old opponent in straight sets. In the biggest match of his career, Darwin’s inexperience showed as Nadal won 79 percent of the points on his first serve and 73 on his second, and he had as many as nine break opportunities.

Even though Rafael Nadal was ecstatic with his triumph on Thursday, the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s road ahead will only grow harder. Nadal will now take on 10th seed Alex de Minaur, who was given a first-round bye. Notably, earlier in the month, De Minaur had defeated Rafael Nadal in Barcelona but had fallen to Arthur Fills in the third round.