Rafael Nadal absolutely smashed the Australian superstar Lleyton Hewitt in the second round match in the Sony Open. He secured a 6-1, 6-3 win to move ahead.
With this performance, Nadal has sent all his rivals a very strong message. He has made it clear that he would come hard at them in this tournament.
Considering Hewitt’s recent form, he was expected to give the Spaniard some fight, but, no, it wasn’t the case. There was no contest out there. It was Nadal all the way. He played some charismatic shots to just blow his opponent away.
Speaking in the post match interview, Nadal said, “Lleyton can prove to be very dangerous on his day. I am one of his biggest admirers. He has been an absolute champion. So, I am happy to put up such sort of performance against him.”
Hewitt who was very excited about taking on Nadal looked disappointed when he came in front of the press after suffering a humiliating defeat. However, he showed the sportsmanship and admitted the fact that his opponent was far better than him.
The Australian said, “Well, he is the best in the business. I tried whatever I could, but, couldn’t just put him in any kind of trouble. He is all class and when he is in this good touch, you can’t do much as an opponent.”
“I wouldn’t say I played poorly. The timing of my shots was good, but, as I said I just got outclassed.”
Nadal broke the service of Hewitt three times in the opening set. The Australian improved a bit in the second set though, but still, couldn’t match his opponent and eventually ended up being handed a hammering.
This was the 7th time that Nadal beat Hewitt.