Rafael Nadal fended off a second early test of his Wimbledon mettle as he took four sets to see off Ricardas Berankis on Thursday.
Just as in his opener against Francisco Cerundolo, Nadal dropped the third set of this match, but he regrouped, as he had two days earlier, to finish it in four.
A 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory for the 36-year-old will do the job for round two, but it was laboured at times on Centre Court from Nadal, a day after title favourite Novak Djokovic delivered a masterclass against Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Australian Open and French Open champion Nadal sealed it with an ace, his 16th consecutive win in a grand slam match, and the lack of polish at this early stage can be forgiven, given his lack of preparation on grass as he underwent treatment on his troublesome foot.
World number 106 Berankis forced breaks to lead early in the second and third sets, and although the Lithuanian was pegged back quickly enough by Nadal on the first occasion, he held his nerve to take the third set.
A rain delay came when Nadal was 3-0 clear in the fourth set, and that was only an inconvenience, Nadal wasting little time in finishing the job.
With Matteo Berrettini and Roberto Bautista Agut both pulling out of Nadal's half of the draw due to COVID-19, and Denis Shapovalov losing on Thursday to Brandon Nakashima after reaching the semi-finals last year, it is hard to see who might deny the Spanish two-time champion a place in the final, unless Nick Kyrgios or Stefanos Tsitsipas fancy the task. Italian Lorenzo Sonego will be the next to try.
Nadal said: "Every day is a challenge. That's the truth. I didn't play much on grass in the last three years. I need to improve, but I think the fourth set was much better. I think it was a good level of tennis in that set and the serve worked much better at the end of the match and I was able to play more aggressive, while at the beginning there were too many mistakes.
"It's important for me to accept things are not perfect and just keep working, be humble and accept the challenge."
Data slam: Going past Martina
Nadal took his total of singles grand slam wins to 307 with this victory, taking him one ahead of Martina Navratilova, the nine-time Wimbledon champion.
He moves up to fourth place on the all-time list for singles wins in the majors, behind only Roger Federer, who leads the way, Serena Williams and Djokovic.
Nadal of course leads the men's slam race with an unmatched 22 slams.
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Nadal – 35/39
Berankis – 35/35
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Nadal – 13/4
Berankis – 3/3
BREAK POINTS WON
Nadal – 4/16
Berankis – 2/5
Djokovic withdraws from ATP Finals
Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the ATP Finals, which start in Turin later this week.
Djokovic pulled out of the Paris Masters last month, and the world number five will now not feature in the season-ending tournament.
The 37-year-old, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the Shanghai Masters in his last competitive appearance, is sat on 99 ATP Tour-level titles, and his wait for a 100th victory will now roll into 2025.
Djokovic confirmed on Tuesday that he would not be participating in the ATP Finals.
"I was really looking forward to being there, but due to ongoing injury I won't be playing next week," Djokovic said on social media.
"Apologies to those who were planning to see me. Wishing all the players a great tournament. See you soon!"
Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz have all qualified for the tournament.
Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur are the three players contesting for the remaining two spots.
WTA Finals: Sabalenka digs deep to reach semi-finals
Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to book her place in the WTA Finals semi-finals after her straight-sets win over Jasmine Paolini on Monday.
The Belarusian had to dig deep in the second set but prevailed in 91 minutes, beating the Italian 6-3 7-5 in Riyadh to secure top spot in the Purple Group after two games.
While Sabalenka cruised through the first set, she was almost forced to a decider, but saved two set points in the 10th game of the second to level the score at 5-5 before going on to claim the victory.
In doing so, she became the first player to reach back-to-back semi-finals at the tournament as world number one since Serena Williams in 2013-14.
Having won three of her previous four tournaments and won 22 of her 23 matches in that time, Sabalenka is now just one win away from securing the year-end world number one spot for the first time, a feat she can achieve if she beats Elena Rybakina on Wednesday in the final round-robin match.
And she can go into it with confidence after improving her record against top-five opponents in 2024, with this her fifth such triumph.
"I'm proud of myself. Not only myself, my team," Sabalenka said.
"We were able to overcome a lot of things. To be able to show such great tennis and become World No. 1. It's teamwork. It's not only me. The behind-the-scenes work nobody sees.
"But they do a lot for me. I really appreciate them for everything they do for me. This is motivation for me to keep winning on this court. Those guys deserve to be called the best team ever."
In Monday's other match, Zheng Qinwen kept her hopes of reaching the final four alive with her win over Rybakina.
The Olympic champion was forced to go the distance though, despite getting the first break in the first and second sets, but eventually came out on top 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-1 in just under two-and-a-half hours.
Since the event's inauguration in 1972, Zheng is just the second Chinese player to win a match at the WTA Finals after Li Na.
It was a milestone victory for the 22-year-old as well as she earned her 50th win of 2024, improving her record to 50-17, making her the first Chinese player in the Open Era to hit that mark in a calendar year, though she acknowledged she could have made things easier for herself.
"I was the one to make the first break, and then I let her back in the first," Zheng said.
"Then it happened again in the second. But in the third set, I talked to myself. I broke her first and I stayed focused.
"Finally, in the third set, I start to play my tennis again. So, I'm really happy to win the match."
WTA Finals: Swiatek battles from the brink to make winning start
Iga Swiatek began her bid to regain the world number one ranking by recovering from a set and double break down to beat Barbora Krejcikova in her first match at the WTA Finals.
Swiatek, playing in her first competitive game since her US Open quarter-final exit, emerged a 4-6 7-5 6-2 victor against the Wimbledon champion in Riyadh.
The Pole is the third player in the last 30 years to achieve three or more seasons in a row with over 60 wins, after Martina Hingis (1997-2001) and Caroline Wozniacki (2009-2011).
Only Elina Svitolina (12) has played fewer matches at the WTA Finals than Swiatek (13) to achieve 10 wins at this event since the reintroduction of the Round Robin format in 2003.
But the Pole acknowledged the difficulties she faced against Krejcikova, saying she must improve if she is to retain her WTA Finals crown.
“Even though I played a lot of those [practice] matches,” Swiatek said afterward. “I kind of forgot for a while how it is to feel all those things, a bit different stress and emotions.
"For sure, I needed some time to adapt. The most important thing was that even though it happened, I managed to fight through that. And was patient enough to wait to get better.”
In Sunday's other match, Coco Gauff beat fellow American and doubles partner Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-2 in the second Orange Group match.
Gauff moved to a win-loss record of 51-16 in 2024, including the Olympics and team events, equalling her career-high from 2023 for WTA-level match wins in a calendar year.
She is now only the fifth player to claim 20 or more WTA top 10 wins before turning 21, along with Kim Clijsters (45), Maria Sharapova (39), Ana Ivanovic (26) and Wozniacki (23) since 2000.
"I think maybe I served better than previous times and this is our first time, I think, playing each other on indoor hard, so maybe that had something to do with it," Gauff said.
"I don't know. I think I know I've lost to her a lot, but it doesn't feel like it sometimes.
"Because we do practice a lot, and obviously, when we're playing sometimes I win practice sets, sometimes she does. So it doesn't feel like the head to head is as bad as it was."
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