Madrid R2- R. Nadal straight sets Jurgen Melzer 6-3 6-1

easy and expected

melzer wasn't that bad, actually.

decent match

Melzer became too predictable with all the s&v. Good match.

Strong resistance from Jurgen. Too bad it lasted only 6 games, otherwise he would have made a real match out of this.

Great job, Rafa, very solid match indeed. :hatoff:
As expected, of course. Can't see anyone stopping him from winning the title here.

Good match from Melzer till 3-3 in the first set.
Rafa played amazing. Only 3 unforced errors

Did Rafa hit ANY bad shots today?! He is AY-MAY-ZING.

Stats :

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/9377/nadmel.jpg

Against all odds - Rafa comes through. Biggest victory of his careera.

Only 59% first serves? He wants to get on top of that :(

Surprise, surprise :zzz:

Another good easy win.
Just 3 unforced error by Rafa is amazing. Simply the best.

Congrats Rafa! Hope he has enough for the French.

Surprise, surprise :zzz:

I know. It's amazing when a top 10 player wins their first match of a tournament. You should post your brilliant :zzz: (so clever, btw, kudos) in all the match threads featurinng top 10ers.

Very solid match from Nadal, unfortunately :zzz:

6:3, 6:1 if I play badly, no???

6:3, 6:1 if I play badly, no???
I was waiting for someone to say it :D:D

:zzz: when isn't it expected

A tired Kohli next for Rafa, sub-atomic chances for the German.

I switched to Blake/Karlovic, much more competitive match.

Only 59% first serves? He wants to get on top of that :(

In your opinion does first serve percentage really matter on clay?

In your opinion does first serve percentage really matter on clay?

On this ultra-fast clay I think it does. Not for Nadal against Melzer anyway.

Couldn't see the match. Did I miss anything out of the ordinary?

On this ultra-fast clay I think it does. Not for Nadal against Melzer anyway.

Couldn't see the match. Did I miss anything out of the ordinary?

Yes. Model ballgirls suck. Also this clay makes a lot of floating dust.

Nadal started a little rusty, but after he opened half an eye, it was over very quickly. 15 winners, 3 UE, sum it all pretty well. Melzer was very offensive, with fortune for his 3 first service games.

Still has something in the tank? That energizer bunny... he's hardly breaking a sweat

Not so smart of Jurgen to come in to the net on all those second serves...but quite nice.

Nice and easy going match for Rafa. Like someone mention, he barely broke a sweat. We might get a Rafa/Roger final if he keeps playing like this.

6:3, 6:1 if I play badly, no???

Expected post. :lol:

vamos rafa

In your opinion does first serve percentage really matter on clay?

His winning percentage behind 1st serve is significantly higher than behind 2nd serve, so I suppose the answer to that question is yes.

3 UEs? I only watched the last couple of games, and when he was serving for the match he hit a couple of FH errors. So he made 1 UE in the previous 15 games? Doesn't sound right.

3 UEs? I only watched the last couple of games, and when he was serving for the match he hit a couple of FH errors. So he made 1 UE in the previous 15 games? Doesn't sound right.
And that, my friend, is simply the genius of Rafael Nadal; low and behold the GOAT!

3 unforced errors is wrong, i saw the match and he made more than UE's than that, not like 20-30 ue, but more than 5.

Nadal will still be winning claycourt titles when he's 30+, he can afford to lose a lot of mobility and still be the champ.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but Nadal didn't have his usual tape under the knees!

Has Nadal worn tape since winning the Australian Open?