Djokovic wins easily, Nadal loses in opening match of 2024

Ahead of the 2024 Australian Open, which takes place from January 14 to January 28, top tennis stars have chosen tournaments in Australia to maintain their form. Novak Djokovic and the Serbian team participated in the United Cup and had a favorable start.

Novak Djokovic faced Chinese tennis player Zhang Zhizhen (ranked 58th in ATP) and completely dominated. In the opening set, Djokovic got a break-point in game 6 and won 6-3.

Djokovic easily defeated Chinese tennis player Zhang Zhizhen at the United Cup (Photo: AP).

In set 2, things were even easier for Nole when he continuously broke Zhang Zhizhen's serve before making his opponent give up the racket with a score of 6-2. The match ended after only 1 hour and 15 minutes.

In the women's singles, Zheng Qinwen beat Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2 to tie the score 1-1 for China. In the mixed doubles, Novak Djokovic - Olga Danilovic defeated Zheng Qinwen - Zhang Zhizhen to bring victory to Serbia.

In addition to Serbia and China, Group E of the United Cup also includes the Czech Republic and the European representative who lost 0-3 to China in the opening match.

The 2024 United Cup team tennis tournament has 18 teams divided into 6 groups (3 teams each) playing a round robin. Each match includes one men's singles match, one women's singles match and one mixed doubles match. The 6 group winners and the 2 best second-placed teams will advance to the quarter-finals.

After a year off to recover from injury, Rafael Nadal returned to the court on December 31 and he participated in the doubles match with Marc Lopez at the Brisbane International. In this match, Nadal's pair lost to Jordan Thompson/Max Purcell with a score of 4-6, 4-6.

In the first set, Nadal played relatively well after a year of injury treatment. However, in the 5th game, the Purcell/Thompson pair created a turning point when they won a break point, opening a 6-4 victory in the first set after 35 minutes.

In set 2, the Nadal/Lopez pair made a mistake in game 7, the score of set 2 was also 6-4 in favor of the Australian pair. The final result was that the Rafael Nadal/Marc Lopez pair lost to Purcell/Thompson 4-6, 4-6 after 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Nadal lost the doubles match at Brisbane International (Photo: AP).

According to the Spanish press, Nadal moved gracefully and had the same powerful shots as before his hip surgery. However, he and his compatriot Lopez gradually lost steam when their opponents served and played too well at the net for the rest of the match.

Nadal is also in the singles at the ATP 250 Brisbane International and will face Dominic Thiem in the first round today. Nadal and Thiem have met 15 times, with the Spaniard winning nine.

The Austrian had previously beaten James McCabe and Giulio Zeppieri in qualifying. If he beats Thiem, Nadal will likely face Russia's Aslan Karatsev in the second round.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/djokovic-thang-de-dang-nadal-thua-o-tran-dau-mo-man-nam-2024-20240101074113402.htm