Perth, Australia.- Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, world No. 1, sharpened his serve and swept Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1 in an ATP Cup match on Monday, which gave Spain a victory over Uruguay, his second in this competition. The winner of the 19 Grand Slams recorded 26 winners and 7 straight shots against the N.45 of the ATP rankings, key for Spain to add their second win of the day, after Roberto Bautista, N.10, beat Franco Roncadelli 6-1, 6-2.
On Wednesday Spain will face Japan knowing that if it wins it will qualify for the ATP Cup qualifiers that will take place in Sydney, while if it loses it will have to wait for other results to know if it is still alive in the tournament.
I played better than the other day and it’s a very positive win against a rival I have a lot of respect for,” Nadal said.
After making his ATP Cup debut on Saturday with a tight 7-6 (7/5) and 7-6 (7/6) victory over South African Kevin Anderson, Serbian Novak Djokovic dominated Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 on Monday, despite the intense heat and humidity making the win harder than the score suggests.” They were definitely of the wettest conditions I’ve ever had in my career. It was brutal,” confessed world No. 2.
Rafael Nadal during his match with Spain in the ATP Cup/AFP
Djokovic’s victory served to tie the duel against France, after Benoit Paire prevailed over Dusan Lajovic (6-2, 6-7 (6/7), 6-4) in the first match of the day, and led the Balkans to take the win finally after Djokovic and Viktor Troicki beat Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Edouard-Vasselin 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 10-3 in the doubles match. Apart from Spain and Serbia, Japan, Croatia, South Africa and Austria won on Monday.
The Central European team beat Argentina in two matches. World number four Dominic Thiem was able in Sydney with the resilient Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), shortly after Dennis Novak traced back to Guido Pella (N.25) and celebrated his win 0-6, 6-4 and 6-4.La victory over the Argentines allows Austria to remain alive in key E, after falling in his first matchup against Croatia.
South Africa, on its side, crushed Chile 3-0. In the singles matches, Lloyd Harris (6-4, 6-4) and Kevin Anderson (6-0, 6-3) did not give Nicolas Jarry and Christian Garín a choice.
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