Nadal beats young to book third-round Wimbledon spot
A rejuvenated Rafael Nadal was at his imperious best on Centre Court on Wednesday as he brushed aside Donald Young in straight sets.
After claiming a record 10th title at the French Open last month, Nadal opted not to play any warm-up events on grass and he has had no problem adjusting at Wimbledon.
He dropped just six games in his opener with John Millman and Young only managed 11 as Nadal raced to a 6-4 6-2 7-5 victory in just over two hours on court.
A break in the opening game of the match proved enough for Nadal to take the first set, the only chance the Spaniard had before serving out to love for the lead.
Again he put the American under pressure at the start of the second and after converting a fifth break chance in the fifth game he had a 4-1 advantage.
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Young struggled to cope with Nadal’s intensity throughout and was regularly surprised to see the fourth seed serve and volleying rather than remaining on the baseline.
He converted a third set point to move within one of the third round, and although Young tried to rally there was no stopping Nadal.
There was little between the pair until the seventh game when Nadal applied pressure to the Young serve, the American faltering with one too many wayward groundstrokes.
A surprise break of the Nadal serve had the crowd on their feet to applaud Young’s battling qualities but it only served to give Nadal the motivation to finish things off.
Another service game to love was enough to seal it and book a place in the third round for only the second time since 2011.
STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN
Nadal [4] bt Young 6-4 6-2 7-5
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORSÂ
Nadal – 37/16
Young – 31/22
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Nadal – 4/2
Young – 8/3
BREAK POINTS WON
Nadal – 5/9
Young – 1/3
FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE
Nadal – 65
Young – 65
PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE
Nadal – 80/60
Young – 66/39
TOTAL POINTS
Nadal – 107
Young – 82
