The first effort of the year was a bit more complex than expected for Rafa Nadal, who suffered at the start and in the outcome of his match with Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat him after 110 minutes (6-3, 7-5) to decant Spain's victory against Georgia in the ATP Cup (2-0). The crossing will close in Perth with a doubles match where Feliciano López will be paired with Pablo Carreño.
"I was expecting a tough game, especially against a difficult opponent like Nikoloz. It was hard for me to get on the track and I made a mistake. The final was also complicated after some failures," Nadal said before the ovation of the almost 10,000 fans who populated the stands at the RAC Arena.
The difficulties for the Spanish team leader multiplied from the eighth game of the second set, when he dominated comfortably (5-2) and served to sign up the victory. After three neutralized options, Basilashvili finally signed up for the 'break', which still completed two games later until he restored equality (5-5).
Crushing Baptist
At that critical moment, Nadal replied bravely to break the Georgian before throwing the blind to the game with his service turn. An extra effort for a set of 68 minutes with which he sealed his fourth win in four games against Basilashvili.
The first chapter of the duel against Georgia was solved by Roberto Bautista with an overwhelming victory against Aleksandre Metreveli (6-0, 6-0) in 71 minutes. "I had no previous information about my rival, I had not seen him play and I had to ask some teammates for advice," admitted the Castellón, the hero of the Davis Cup final in Madrid.
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