Highlights
Set 2 | 3-6
GAME, SET AND MATCH FOR RAFAEL NADAL! Alex De Miñaur double faults and gives the victory to the Spaniard, who ends with the ovation and the acclaim of the world. 7-6 and 6-3, the final result.
Set 2 | 3-5 | 30-40
De Miñaur demands Nadal and gets the foul. Second match point now.
Set 2 | 3-5 | 15-40
TREMENDOUS RAFA NADAL! INCREDIBLE CROSS-COURT SHOT FROM THE SPANIARD THAT LIFTS THE CROWD.
Double Match Point.
Set 2 | 3-5
Game for Nadal! Impressive level of the Spaniard with his serve. Crucial opportunity for De Miñaur to keep the match alive.
Set 2 | 3-4
De Minaur continues to hold his serve and does not give up. It is perhaps his best weapon now against a Nadal who has found his best game now.
Set 2 | 2-4
Game for Nadal! Tremendous personality has De Minaur to resist the shots of the Spaniard, who prevails in the long points.
Set 2 | 2-3
De Minaur keeps his serve just enough. At this stage of the match he is making more mistakes, but in his serve he corrects demanding his rival.
Set 2 | 1-3
Rafa Nadal returns the dose to De Minaur and with his serve manages to stay break up in the third set.
Set 2 | 1-2
De Minaur quickly dispatches Rafa Nadal with his serve and wins the game.
Set 2 | 0-2
Game for Rafa Nadal. Effectiveness with his serve. The Spaniard shows a lot of consistency now.
Set 2 | 0-1
NADAL BREAKS! De Minaur is not going through a good moment in the match and now he had an unforced error that ends up giving the game to Nadal.
Second set begins
The match restarts. De Minaur now serves.
Set 1 | 6-7
GAME AND SET FOR RAFA! The Spaniard takes the first episode of the match forcing De Minaur to make a mistake. Rafa celebrates wildly!
Set 1 | Tie break | 6-7
SET POINT FOR NADAL! Great crosscourt shot that hit the line... New opportunity to define the first episode.
Set 1 | Tie break | 6-6
Another unforced error by Nadal. 6-6 tie-break now against a De Minaur who has endured all the onslaught since the triple set point that had the Spanish.
Set 1 | Tie break | 6-5
From 6-3 to 6-5... Rafa will have his serve to define the first set.
Set 1 | Tie break | 1-4
Impressive Nadal! He has taken all his arsenal afloat the Spanish in the tie break. 4-1 up now.
Set 1 | 6-6
Game for De Minaur! The Australian takes advantage of his serve to be consistent and take things now to the tie-break.
Set 1 | 5-6
Game for Nadal! The Spaniard had help from the net to define a game that was getting complicated to go from 40-0 to 40-40.
Set 1 | 5-5
Game for De Minaur! The Australian, with his serve took advantage to leave no options to Nadal.
Set | 4-5
Game for Nadal! The Spaniard recovers now and with his serve. He forced the error to finish the point and now wins in the first game.
Set 1 | 4-4
NADAL BREAKS! Now it is the Spaniard who takes advantage of his opponent's serve, playing to the baseline. There was also a double fault of Alex De Minaur in between and a ball out to end the point.
Set 1 | 4-3
DE MINAUR BREAKS! The Australian was very clever to play Rafa's four serves and put the ball in complex areas to the Spaniard, who was left without response.
Set 1 | 3-3
Game now for De Minaur. The first set is tied, with the good use of his serve.
Set 1 | 2-3
Game for Rafa Nadal, who took advantage of his serve to move his opponent side to side and put good direction to his shots.
Set 1 | 2-2
DE MINAUR TIES! The Australian took advantage of his serve to also print speed in his shots and gave no chance to Rafa Nadal in this game.
Set 1 | 1-2
DE MINAUR BREAKS! Rafa Nadal lost concentration on a claim he made to the umpire, but got up 40-15. However, De Minaur reacted and took him to the limit to end up breaking.
Set 1 | 0-2
RAFA NADAL BREAKS! Good game when he crosses the ball. He has seen good mobility in these first points and feels good. Then he put in an unreachable drop shot for 40-30 and De Minaur ended the game with an unforced error. 2-0 up Rafa.
Set 1 | 0-1
Rafa Nadal takes the first game of the match with his serve, giving power and very good direction to his shots.
Match starts
The match gets underway. Rafael Nadal, on serve.
What awaits the winner
The winner of the match will face Pedro Cachin and Frances Tiafoe in the third round.
The Umpire
Fergus Murphy will be the referee for the match.
Moment of homage
A minute of silence is observed for Sergio Delgado, who was the designer of the tournament's promotional campaigns.
Ahora sí, a la cancha los jugadores
Followed by Alex De Minaur, Rafael Nadal also makes his presence felt on the Manolo Santana court.
Players get ready
Rafa Nadal and Alex De Minaur are ready to take the court. important match!
All set
In a few moments Rafael Nadal and Alex De Minaur will be on the court. The match is about to start.
Carlos Moya and Marc Lopez hope for a better Rafa
Marc Lopez: "Right now he is not 100%, it is normal, but from outside we try to tell him that he is better than he sees himself. Now it is costing him more, here people pull him harder and that seems that he does not feel so confident and our job is to make him see that he is better than he thinks he is. He is improving day by day and taking steps forward to arrive in the best way to Roland Garros, which is the big goal."
Carlos Gayá: "He has spent more hours on the court, he is already more in situation. I think we can have a more competitive game than the other day. I do not know if he will win, but within the team we are more confident about what we can see. It will be better than what we saw last week."
Rafael Nadal got ready
The previous hours have been decisive for Rafa Nadal, who has been tuned to try to reach his best level in this match.
🏋️♂️🎾 Así ha sido la puesta a punto de @RafaelNadal esta mañana
— Carrusel Deportivo (@carrusel) April 27, 2024
🆚 El Nadal - De Miñaur del @MutuaMadridOpen, en directo en @carrusel a partir de las 16:00h
📸 @PedroFullanaSER pic.twitter.com/hfFgqxKaaw
The stage is set
The Manolo Santana is ready to receive this match between Rafa Nadal and Alex Miñaur.
Spectacular scenes await on centre court 🎬
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 27, 2024
How ready are you for Nadal v De Minaur?! 🔥@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOpen pic.twitter.com/cpKQhN5qjm
Welcome back
We are ready to bring you the actions of the match Rafael Nadal vs Alex Minaur in the second round of the Madrid Masters 1000 2024. We invite you to follow along with us the actions of this match.
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In a few moments we will share with you the starting lineups for the Rafa Nadal vs Alex de Miñaur match, in addition to the most recent information that emerges from the Manolo Santana court. Stay tuned for live online coverage of the match on VAVEL.
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What time is the match between Rafa Nadal vs Alex de Miñaur at the Madrid Masters 1000?
This is the start time in several countries:
Argentina: 9:00 AM
Bolivia: 9:00 AM
Brazil: 10:00 AM
Chile: 9:00 AM
Colombia: 8:00 AM
Ecuador 8:00 AM
UNITED STATES (ET): 10:00 AM
Spain: 16:00 PM
Mexico: 8:00 AM
Paraguay: 9:00 AM
Peru: 9:00 AM
Uruguay: 9:00 AM
Venezuela: 9:00 AM
England: 2:00 PM
Australia: 11:00 PM
India 16:30 AM
Alcaraz starts defending the crown
The Murcian tennis player and winner of the last two editions has returned with a good victory and also good feelings. Although he arrived with doubts due to his discomfort in his right arm, which had left him out of the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo and Monaco, he has shown a good level. Without forcing his forehand too much and taking advantage of the mistakes of the Kazakh, Shevchenko, he managed to win 6-2 and 6-1. On Sunday he will play the third round against Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild. Despite winning the last two times he is not the seed, but rather Jannik Sinner, who also makes his debut in the capital of Spain this Saturday
How does Alex de Minaur arrive?
Alex de Minaur, 25 years old, is currently number 11 in the world in the ATP rankings. Their record this year is 23-8.
He started 2024 performing well in the United Cup. In the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open was defeated in the round of 16 after an exciting battle against Andrey Rublev. He later lost in the ATP Rotterdam final against Sinner. After a surprising defeat in the first round in Los Cabos, he made up for it by winning the Acapulco tournament. In both Indian Wells and Miami he was defeated in the round of 16.
The dirt tour started at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 where he was defeated in the quarterfinals against world number 1, Novak Djokovic. In Barcelona a week ago he beat Rafa Nadal, but in his next duel he was surprised by the Frenchman Fils.
How does Rafa Nadal arrive?
The 37-year-old tennis player from Manacor is currently number 644 in the world.
He is in his second consecutive tournament playing for the first time in 2024. He started playing in the month of January at the ATP Brisbane after a year away from the court where he was defeated in the quarterfinals against Jordan Thompson and ended up with discomfort.
Now comes the tour where he has more hopes and it is clay where he wants to arrive at Roland Garros and the games in a great moment. In Barcelona he returned after a long break where he defeated Cobolli in the first round, while in the second round he was beaten by Alex de Minaur, who is number 11 in the world. While in the Masters 1000 in Madrid, in his first match he overwhelmed the young 16-year-old Darwin Blanch, who could only win one game in the entire match.
Background
Rafa Nadal and Alex de Minaur have faced each other a total of five times, with a balance of three wins for the Spaniard and two for the Australian. The last time they met was in the recent duel in Barcelona a little over a week ago where Alex won in two sets. This has been the only confrontation on clay. The last time Rafa beat the Australian was in 2020 in an ATP Cup match.
The stadium
The match will be played on the central court called Manolo Santana located in the city of Madrid and inaugurated on May 8, 2009 and has a capacity for 12,442 spectators.
Match preview
Rafa Nadal and Alex de Miñaur will meet this Saturday, April 27, 2024 in the match corresponding to the second round of the Madrid Masters 1000
Welcome to VAVEL.COM's LIVE coverage of the match between Rafa Nadal vs Alex de Miñaur at the Madrid Masters 1000
My name is Manuel Carmona Hidalgo and I will be your host for this match. We will offer you the pre-match analysis and news here live from VAVEL.