By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
World no. 5 ranked male tennis player Rafael Nadal is back in top form and dismantled Corentin Moutet of France in three straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the third round of the 2022 French Open.
The clay-court legend is off to a delightful start at Roland Garros and is yet to lose a single set in his first two matchups.
Nadal barely broke a sweat in the opening set and bullied the French tennis player with his unpredictable top-spin forehand bombs that piled up his score tally.
Attempting to counter Nadal’s spin-heavy baseline shots, Moutet decided to slow the pace down and used a bunch of chop strokes to disrupt his rhythm but still went to waste.
Every time Moutet motioned for a chop or a slice, Nadal was quick to prepare in advance and was great at anticipating the ball which resulted in easy points.
Aside from his consistent baseline game, Nadal cut down his unforced errors compared to his first game against Jordan Thompson where he missed several forehands down the line.
Moutet never recovered in the last two sets and saw the surging Nadal continue his hot offense including a couple of serve-and-volley plays that are rarely seen from him.
Nadal will attempt to continue his undefeated run in the French Open as he is set to square off against Botic van de Zandschulp in the third round.
The emerging Dutch professional star is coming off impressive wins against Fabio Fognini and Pavel Kotov and has only dropped one set in the tournament.
