Many people had rightly predicted this match to be easy for Rafael Nadal, with him leading the head to head between himself and Thomaz Bellucci 4-0 and one win coming on grass – another Wimbledon first round in 2012. Nadal fired a total of 21 winners and converted 50% of break points to win in 2 hours and 11 minutes.
It didn’t take long for Nadal to find his form in the first set; although his first service game involved him being forced to fend off two break points, he held from 15-40 down with a strong serve that forced a return error from Bellucci. Both men held easily until the fifth game of the match, where the world number 10 stepped up his game and broke to 15 in a game that included a stunning cross court winner. He seemed to have found his rhythm and broke again to lead 5-2, but as has been the case for many of his matches this year he played tight tennis when attempting to serve out the set; Bellucci capitalised on Nadal’s lack of concentration and broke back with help from a double fault from the lefty, and then went on to consolidate. However, the Spaniard was far more confident in his second chance to seize the set, taking it 6-4 with an attacking cross court forehand winner whilst committing only six unforced errors throughout.
Nadal continued this vein of form throughout the second set, becoming more dominant as it went on. He broke and consolidated to lead 2-0 in a matter of minutes. However, the Brazilian retained some dignity in refusing to be broken a second time in a row, squeezing his way through a tight service game of three deuces with a missed forehand on the run from Nadal. Nadal’s level remained high as he gained a double break and raced to a 5-1 lead – after Bellucci held once more, Nadal successfully served out the set with a wild backhand from the underdog to take it 6-2.
The third set was more competitive than the second, with Bellucci giving a last ditch effort to make an impact on the match. He managed to hold and break the serve of the 10th seed, but Nadal immediately broke back to reach 1-2 with a huge cross court forehand pass and a loud shout of “SI!”. It was fairly plain sailing from then on for the Spanish number two, not being troubled on his own serve for the rest of the match. In the fifth game Nadal broke again to lead 3-2; Bellucci could do nothing in Nadal’s service games to level the match. Nadal successfully serve out the match to 30 on his first attempt with a Bellucci backhand into the net, winning 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Nadal’s next opponent will be the German Dustin Brown, who won in four sets today to set up this enticing second round encounter to be played on Thursday. Their one previous meeting was on the grass court of Halle just last year, with Brown prevailing 6-4, 6-1 with some fantastic shot making. Nadal’s level seems to be much improved this year on the green surface, but if Brown can play as well as he did in 2014 then the 10th seed has a tough task ahead of him – it’s definitely not a match to miss.