INDIAN WELLS (CALIFORNIA), March 17: Nursing a nagging foot injury, Rafael Nadal became the second player in ATP Tour history to start a season 18-0, edging Reilly Opelka 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) on Wednesday in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Only Novak Djokovic has gotten off to better starts since 1990. The Serb went 26-0 to begin 2020 and 41-0 to open 2011.
“I can’t say it’s a dream because I even couldn’t dream about that three months ago, two months ago,” Nadal said. “I am just enjoying every single moment.”
“I am just very happy to be playing tennis,” said Nadal, who turns 36 in June. “Today was a little bit worse than other days. It’s true that the last couple of days the foot has been bothering me a little bit more.” Nadal has already withdrawn from the Miami Open.
Also, Andrey Rublev defeated Hubert Hurkacz 7-6, 6-4 while Grigor Dimitrov got the better of John Isner 6-3, 7-6. Jannik Sinner withdrew, sending Nick Kyrgios in the quarters. (AP)
