Rafael Nadal Navigates Past Golubev

Written by: Global Chick on 31st August 2011

Rafael Nadal Navigates Past Golubev

Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan during their first round match on the second day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 30 August 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

The World Number Two Rafael Nadal kicked off the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium tonight against Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan.

Last year’s Champion Nadal had to fight hard for his first round win today in three sets 6-3 7-6 (1) 7-5. Golubev hit 41 winners but made 59 unforced errors and Nadal hit 18 winners and made 16 unforced errors.

Golubev had chances to win all of the three sets. The Kazakhstani even managed to throw away seven set points in the second set. Nadal won the second set in a tiebreak 7-1. The 24-year-old served for the third set twice but it wasn’t enough to stop the Spanish super star, who is always giving it his best.

“I was nervous today, it’s normal to start a tournament like this. He didn’t help because he played very fast all the time. He was trying to hit a winner on almost every shot. So it was difficult for me to find some rhythm,” The World Number two said.

Rafael Nadal has only played two tournaments since his final loss at Wimbledon to Novak Djokovic in June. Rafa lost in the second round to Ivan Dodig at the Masters Series event in Montreal and in the quarterfinals to in-form Mardy Fish in Cincinnati.

The left- hander added, “But it’s a positive start winning in straight sets, even though it’s unbelievable that I did. I’m happy for the victory and happy to come back to New York. I don’t think I played that badly, but the mental part was positive tonight. My tennis for sure can improve, I have to play a little bit more inside the court, but I’m confident I can do it.”

Waiting for Nadal in the second round is France’s Nicolas Mahut who came back from 0-2 sets down against Colombian qualifier Robert Farah 3-6 6-7 (4) 6-2 6-4 6-0. The Frenchman played the Spaniard at the Queens Tournament in 2007. Mahut won that time in straight sets.