Rafael Nadal rolled back the years to claim an emotional and dramatic victory against Alex de Minaur at the Madrid Open.
The 37-year-old showed flashes of his vintage best to thrill his home fans in a 7-6 (7-6) 6-3 win and will play Pedro Cachin in round three after the Argentine defeated Frances Tiafoe.
Nadal reversed a straight-sets defeat in Barcelona against De Minaur with an inspired performance at the Caja Magica in front of the King of Spain and Real Madrid stars present and former in Vinicius Junior and Zinedine Zidane.
After breaking the De Minaur serve in the second game, Nadal was furious when the umpire ruled he had not challenged in time in the next game with a shot over the baseline from the Australian missed by the officials.
De Minaur broke back and briefly had the advantage at 4-3 but back came Nadal, and the home favourite finally took a fifth chance in the tie-break after being pegged back from 6-2.
He celebrated with a triple fist pump and began the second set on the front foot, producing some vintage winners and keeping De Minaur scrambling around the court.
By the end of the match, Nadal was in total control and he clinched his first top-20 victory since 2022 when De Minaur double-faulted, sparking jubilant scenes in the Spanish capital.
Asked whether the old Nadal was back, he replied: "No, not yet. Next time! Today, I showed a good level of tennis and I was able to do positive things.
Nadal just grew in strength to a point where at the climax he was completely dominant, hitting the ball as well as he has in recent times. It's a special day in one of the most special careers we have ever witnessed.
"I'm super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex, playing over two hours, it means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke.
"If I am able to play weeks in a row, then I'm going to see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. That's not the case yet, step by step and let's see how I recover."
Norrie beats Brazilian teenager; Tsitsipas stunned by qualifier
Cameron Norrie saw off 17-year-old Brazilian wild card Joao Fonseca, winning 6-1 6-4, but Fonseca's countryman Thiago Monteiro produced the upset of the tournament by downing in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4.
Tsitsipas entered the match with a 10-1 record on clay for season, including a third title in Monte Carlo, but the world No 118 powered 24 winners to clinch a stunning win.
Swiatek and Sinner march on in bid for maiden Madrid crowns
World No 1 Iga Swiatek advanced to the fourth round after defeating Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-1 to improve her season record to 26-4.
Already a champion at two of the four WTA 1000 events of the season, Poland's Swiatek is bidding to win her first Madrid title.
It is the only European clay tournament at the WTA 500 level or above that she has yet to win.
Jannik Sinner downed fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-0 6-3 in the second round to improve to 5-0 against his countryman and 13-0 against fellow Italian players.
The Australian Open champion is chasing his fourth title of the season after winning at Melbourne Park and Rotterdam and Miami - all hard-court events.
Just one of his 13 career titles has come on clay, at the Croatia Open in Umag a couple of years ago.
What's coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
In the run-up to the second Grand Slam of 2024 - the French Open at Roland Garros from May 26 - you can watch all of the biggest tennis stars in action live on Sky Sports as they compete across the clay-court season.
- Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome (ATP and WTA Masters 1000) - May 7-19
- Geneva Open (ATP 250) - May 20-26
- Lyon Open (ATP 250) - May 20-26
- Internationaux de Strasbourg (WTA 500 with Emma Raducanu in action) - May 20-26
- Morocco Open (WTA 250) - May 20-26
How to watch play on Sky Sports Tennis
Sky Sports will broadcast more live tennis than anywhere else in 2024, including on its dedicated tennis channel, bringing over 4,000 matches from more than 80 tournaments a year on the ATP and WTA Tours, plus full coverage of the US Open exclusively live.
Non-Sky subscribers can stream live matches contract-free with a NOW Sports Day or Month Membership.
Fans will also be able to follow their favourite players and gain deeper insights from both Tours via Sky Sports News, the Sky Sports App and skysports.com as well as via Sky Sports' social channels.
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