Rublev's uncertain serve and Nadal's winning start

Russian Andrei Rublev was unable to successfully debut at the ATP Final tournament, losing in the first match of the group stage to Rafael Nadal.

The Spaniard, who has never taken a title in the final tournament of the season, won in two sets.

Prior to this fight, Nadal and Rublev met only once on the court.

In 2017, the Russian tennis player made his first career breakthrough, reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open at the age of 19.

But his further progress on the grid was interrupted by the future US Open champion.

The match lasted a little over an hour and a half, during which Rublev managed to win only five games in three sets.

In London, tennis players had to play on a closed hard for the first time.

For Rublev, this coating has become almost native - this season he won 13 of his 40 victories on it.

Nadal did not often have to play on fast courts, and he managed to chalk up only three victories on indoor hard.

All of them were won at the beginning of November at the Masters in Paris, so we can say that the Spaniard has adapted to the unusual conditions for himself.

In the reporting match, Nadal from the very beginning began to demonstrate a phenomenal game on the serve.

In his first three games, the Spaniard gave only two points and only once was forced to serve with the second ball.

Rublev did not have such confidence.

His first goal hit rate was frighteningly low.

For a while, the Russian could still control himself, he even managed aces on the second serve.

But in the sixth game, Nadal stopped forgiving his opponent.

He earned two break points, and on the second of them Rublev hit the net, after which the ball bounced into touch.

Out of frustration because of the so offensively lost game, the Russian threw the racket onto the court.

At the reception, Rublev tried to match the level of his opponent and even walked on a par with Nadal on points, but one mistake from the backhand and the subsequent ace made the score 5: 2 in favor of the Spaniard.

Then the rivals exchanged two clean sheets on their serve, and the Spaniard celebrated the victory in the set.

This season, Nadal has not yet allowed anyone to make a comeback after winning the first game.

In the second set, Rublev continued to experience difficulties in serving and began to give the Spaniard points for double errors.

Nadal took advantage of this to immediately lead the story with a break.

In the next game at the reception, the Russian sometimes made the opponent nervous, but more often the rallies ended in his unforced errors.

Rublev began to react violently to every unsuccessful blow, either trying to turn himself on, or aggravating his psychological state.

As a result, the Russian began to serve better, even winning one of the games in just 46 seconds, but at the reception he could not oppose Nadal.

The Spaniard finished the second set in the tenth game, never faced with the need to play at least one break point.

The final score is 6: 3, 6: 4 in favor of the multiple winner of the Grand Slam tournaments.

Rublev now needs to win the two remaining group stage matches to make it to the semifinals, and he will play his next match against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

A statement win for @RafaelNadal đź‘Ź



Next up: Dominic Thiem



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- ATP Tour (@atptour) November 15, 2020

Tim's rematch for last year's final

The London Singles Tournament kicked off with a match between Dominic Tim and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Last year, they already met in the final of the ATP Final Tournament, and then the Greek tennis player celebrated the victory.

This time, the Austrian was able to take revenge and chalk up the first victory in the group stage.

For almost the entire 2020 season, Tim played on open courts, and only at the end of the year found himself in the conditions in which the tournament in London was supposed to take place.

The US Open champion played at home in Vienna and, after two wins, lost to Rublev in the quarterfinals.

Tsitsipas managed to win the title in Marseille on a closed hard, but that was back in February.

The first set in London was an equal fight.

Both tennis players held tight to their serve, while Tim was one step away from the break three times.

But Tsitsipas won back every time and achieved the 13th game.

The Greek tennis player took the lead with a score of 4: 1 thanks to the opponent's mistakes, but before the end of the tie-break he won only one point and gave a set.

In the next game, everything could well have gone according to the same scenario, however, Tim had a very weak second game on his serve, and this was enough to equalize the score in the match.

Tsitsipasa was rescued by the game at the net, which earned him nine points in 12 attempts.

Tim started the third game aggressively and won three games in a row.

Then the Austrian defended his serve in the fifth game, which lasted almost ten minutes.

Having failed to make a break, Tsitsipas did not find the strength to win back and end the match in his favor.

For the first time since 2008, the reigning ATP Finals champion began defending his title with a loss.

Thiem turns the tables 🔄



A big win for @ThiemDomi to open his #NittoATPFinals campaign!

đź‘Ź



đź“ą: @TennisTV |

# ATPTourpic.twitter.com / 65kMw46vC7

- ATP Tour (@atptour) November 15, 2020