Rafael Nadal made a triumphant return to the match court with victory over Flavio Cobolli in the first round of the Barcelona Open.
The 37-year-old was playing just his second tournament in 15 months after suffering another injury problem in his hip muscle at his comeback event in Brisbane in January.
Nadal only committed to playing at the tournament he has won 12 times on Monday but there was not much rust on display as he eased to a 6-2 6-3 victory over 21-year-old Italian Cobolli in his first match on clay since he won his 14th French Open title in 2022.
Nadal received a heroās welcome as he strode out onto the court that bears his name and, although there were a few loose forehands in the early stages, the former world number one was too solid for Cobolli.
Cobolli understandably looked nervous and contributed to the scoreline with far too many errors, but a big factor in that was the pressure being exerted from the other end of the court.
A blip came when Nadal, who is set to retire at some point this season, played a poor game to drop serve for the first time in the third game of the second set but he had already broken Cobolli and quickly restored his advantage.
There were some vintage forehands from Nadal in the final stages and he clinched victory when Cobolli netted a final backhand, thrusting his fist into the air.
āI enjoyed some unforgettable moments here so now Iām just having fun and happy to start with a victory without a doubt,ā Nadal said courtside.
āI tried (to come back) a lot of times in my career, every time itās more difficult and especially when you are at an advanced age itās even tougher.
āIām going through some tough moments but at the same time when I am able to be on the tour for a few days able to play and practice with the guys and compete a little bitĀ means a lot to me. Itās still enjoyable enough to keep doing it.ā
The home favourite faces a real test next, though, when he takes on in-form fourth seed Alex De Minaur.
British number one Cameron Norrie is through after facing a bizarre interruption to his match when his opponentās phone rang.
French qualifier Harold Mayot was about to serve early in the second set when he had to run to his bag and turn the device off.
The 22-year-old was switched on enough to take the match to a deciding set, saving three match points in a second tie-break.
But having already received treatment on a groin injury, Mayot was forced to retire at the start of the third with the score 7-6 (3) 6-7 (6).
Meanwhile, second seed Andrey Rublev destroyed his racket at the end of a 6-4 7-6 (6) defeat by Brandon Nakashima that continued his poor run of form.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Ā
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience forĀ our loyalĀ readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Ā
That is invaluable.Ā
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistās job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersā comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersā comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the āreport this postā link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here