Nadal overwhelms Sonego 3-0 and wins the second round. The race to the Slam n. 23 continues

If the first time you meet Rafa Nadal you do it in the third round of a Grand Slam, well, you risk it being an unforgettable experience. The Lorenzo Sonego less on the ball of the tournament crosses the best Nadal since the beginning of the week and is overwhelmed. Without weapons, against a wild, aggressive, fast Rafa. For the Turin-born, who had been able to beat Novak Djokovic on the fast indoor, the much desired third round on the Center Court in London with the Majorcan turns into a nightmare for two sets, while in the third Lollo tries to shake himself, to annoy Rafa and even gives him a break. He still finishes 3 sets to zero: 6-1 6-2 6-4.

A shame, because Sonego was not able to play his game, pinned back against the wall by a Rafa who was always pushing him who literally annihilated him except to grow a bit at the end of the third set. A bit like what happened to Matteo Berrettini with Federer in 2019 always on the Center Court, when at the end of the match the Roman asked King Roger how much he owed him for the lesson.

The match

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Rafa starts serving, keeps the serve and Sonego immediately replies to him for the 1-1. It seems that there may be a match, and instead in the 4th game Sonny ends up down 0-30 on his turn to serve. He catches up with two winning serves, then loses control of the forehand and concedes the first break point of the match to Rafa. Lorenzo’s backhand is out and the Spaniard is ahead 3-1. From there, Sonny is literally buried by the avalanche of his own mistakes which, combined with Rafa’s overwhelming power, lead him to no longer keep the serve and give up the first set 6-1. The second set starts as the first for Sonego ended, that is bad. He ends up 4-0 in a few minutes, then in the fifth game he finally manages to keep his serve and cheers on the audience as if it were a match point. He takes some energy from people who would like to enjoy a little longer show, holds the second round in a row and still gives 6-2. In an hour the southpaw is already ahead two sets to zero.

Third set that opens again with Nadal’s break, and Lorenzo who has a little more courage and finally tries to score some points. The Turin player asks for the roof to be closed, the chair judge denies him until 4-2, when the game is interrupted to allow the structure to close. Nadal is not too happy with the interruption, he also argues with the Turin player because he screams too much, he gets the break ahead but immediately takes it back to close 6-4. The race to the 23rd Grand Slam is still open.