Rafael Nadal Back With Win

1 month ago 07th Oct 11:58

Rafael Nadal returned to competition after injury with a win over Marcos Baghdatis, despite being pushed to three sets.

The Spaniard and top seed hasn't played since his semi final defeat to Juan Martin Del Potro at the U.S. Open last month where he struggled with an abdominal injury.

He withdrew from the Thailand Open last week to allow the injury further time to heal and looked rusty on court in Beijing last night.

He may have beaten Baghdatis in their five previous meetings but he lack of matches showed as he struggled to cope with the Cypriot's serve.

Despite this the top seed showed flashes of brilliance that have brought him six Grand Slam titles as he took the first set 6-4, one break of serve all he needed.

But Baghdatis battled back and he bossed the second set as Nadal struggled to keep his own serve under control losing it 3-6.

But in true Nadal fashion, he maybe down but never out, he found the extra ounce of fight to finally break Baghdatis, in a set that went with serve, to wrap up a victory.

The meaning of the win was written all over the Spaniard's face as he saluted the crowd for their support on the court where he won his Olympic gold medal just over a year ago.

Speaking to thr ATP after the match Nadal said: "I think I didn’t play my best tennis," admitted Nadal. "That’s true. But I improved in the third [set] a lot. Especially in the last four games I played much better.

"The victory is important because for me, he’s a very good opponent, and [at] this tournament every opponent is very tough. We are playing here the top 45 of the world, so every match is going to be very difficult."

It's been a tough year for Nadal as he struggled with tendonitis at the French Open which led to an early exit and led to him pulling out of Wimbledon.

The former world number one injured the abdominal muscles in Cincinnati, a warm up tournament to the U.S. Open before aggravating it at the final Grand Slam of the year.

But he made it to the semi final regaining the world number two spot along the way. In Beijing he will next play James Blake who was a Florian Mayer 6-3 3-6 6-3.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw