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Rafa Nadal reappears this Wednesday

in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Rome

after 200 days without competing.

The Mallorcan had not wielded the racket in an official match since February, when he won the Acapulco Tournament against Taylor Fritz.

It will, yes, when the rain allows it, which this Tuesday forced to suspend Garbiñe Muguruza's match against Sloane Stephens for more than half an hour.

The Spanish won 6-3 and 6-3.

Nadal returns to one of the many "little homelands" he has on clay.

The manacorí has ​​already won

nine times at the Foro Italico

, including the last two editions against Alexander Zverev (2018) and Novak Djokovic (2019).

But even more familiar will be the rival in front of him: Pablo Carreño.

The Asturian is coming from making the semifinals at the US Open and the draw has not given him respite.

Nadal dominates the record: not only has he won the previous five duels, but Carreño only managed to scratch one set four years ago.

The most recent, this year in the third round of the Australian Open (6-1, 6-2, 6-4).

Garbiñe Muguruza agreed to that second round, defeating Stephens.

It is not usual to see a premiere duel between

two Grand Slam winners

but the American, champion of the US Open in 2017 and number three in the world in 2018, cannot find the way out of the crisis of results that has dragged on for some time.

The rain

The match already started pending the increasingly black sky of the Italian capital.

The roar of thunder was such that on a couple of occasions the tennis players interrupted their service to take a look up.

The rain came in the ninth game.

If they kept playing, it was only because Muguruza was about to buckle the first set, although he ended up needing five balls.

His pulse did not tremble in the second and, although Stephens had already raised the level since the end of the first heat, he did not have enough to question the Caracas.

Her next rival will be Coco Gauff, the girl prodigy of women's tennis.

Last season, at just 15 years old, she already lifted her first title in Linz and reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

This course repeated eighth at the Australian Open leaving

Naomi Osaka

on the way

.

In addition to Nadal and Carreño, who passed direct, and Muguruza,

Pedro Martínez and Aliona Bolsava

are already in the second round

.

The Valencian beat Sam Querrey (6-3, 7-6 (3) and will have to face Canadian Denis Shapovalov, world number 14. For her part, the Hispano-Moldavian beat Alison Riske (No. 20) on Monday and will play

Tuesday's day left another casualty in the Spanish expedition.

The Malaga-born

Alejandro Davidovich

, who came from surprising the US Open by getting into the round of 16, fell to Dusan Lajovic (No. 25) by a double 6-4.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Rafael Nadal

  • Garbiñe Muguruza

  • Pablo Carreño

  • Novak Djokovic

  • sports

TennisThe eternal wait for Rafa Nadal: starts in Rome, where Djokovic also plays, to prepare for the Roland Garros assault

US Open and finally, a 90s champion in New York

US Open Carreño's long road back: injuries and losses before exploding again in New York

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