Rafael Nadal advances to 2nd round of 2022 Australian Open

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal kicked off his 2022 Australian Open campaign with a crushing victory over American Marcos Giron, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, and advanced to the second round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Facing doubts about participating in Australia due to injury issues while contracting the COVID-19 virus a month ago, the 2-time Grand Slam champion immediately went down to business and dispatched his American foe in straight sets.

Nadal’s impressive 84% win rate on his first service was one of the biggest stories of the match as the Spaniard showed his consistent service game from start to finish.

Giron tried to go toe-to-toe with Nadal in the baseline battle but the Spanish sensation’s insane forehand spin posed a lot of problems every time they rallied.

Nadal’s aggressive gameplay also helped him generate more winners after bullying the American several times with his on-point ball placement.

The American tried to switch things up and executed several drop shots in the last set but wasn’t enough to put Nadal in a difficult position as he just ran over the ball and created more winners for himself.

Nadal’s huge opening match victory helped him advance to the next round where he is set to face Yannick Hanfmann of Germany.

The German prospect earlier dominated Thanasi Kokkinakis in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and displayed one of his efficient offensive performances after recording 95 total winners.