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French Open champion Rafael Nadal will continue his push for a Wimbledon title when he meets the experienced Donald Young in the second round. Join The Roar for live scores of the match from around 1:30am (AEST).
Nadal has been on fire in 2017. He started the year making the final of the Australian Open, then had a strong US hard court season before losing one match out of 23 during the clay court season, not dropping a set during the French Open.
It was clear leading into Wimbledon he needed a break though, and that’s what he did, taking three weeks off and not playing a match between the end of Roland Garros and his first round match at the All England Club.
He started off at Wimbledon taking on Australian John Millman, and it was a demolition job. 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 was the final scoreline, but it might have well been three sets to love. Millman was never in the contest, with Nadal dominating the whole way.
The Spaniard has traditionally not done as well at Wimbledon, but based on his form you have to like his chances of making a deep run in the tournament.
With that being said, it’s extremely hard to see the world No.43 Young finding a way over one of the best players in history. Young, coming off a woeful clay court season where he failed to win a match hasn’t been all that bad since things got onto the grass courts.
Two quarter-final appearances at the AEGON Championships in London and Eastbourne indicate he is moving and hitting the ball well, and he was dominating Denis Istomin in the first round as well before his opponent retired.
Despite dropping the first set, he cruised through the second and third, his serve firing on all cylinders. If that continues and he doesn’t get broken early, he stands a chance to at least challenge the king of clay.
The pair have played two times previously, both on hard courts at Indian Wells. Nadal won both of those encounters in straight sets, with the last one being played in 2015.
Prediction
Nadal is going to win this match, but the only question is how dominantly. Brown is known as a fighter, and has pulled off some results throughout his career that suggest he could take an underprepared Nadal the distance. In all likelihood, it won’t go that far, but Nadal will win convincingly.
Nadal in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from around 1:30am (AEST) or at the completion of Andy Murray and Dustin Brown on the centre court and don’t forget to add a comment below.