At the Madrid Open on Saturday, Rafael Nadal overcame all odds to defeat Alex de Minaur and claim a historic victory.
The “King of Clay” got some much-needed retribution after losing to the Australian at the Barcelona Open just 10 days earlier with his 7-6(6), 6-3 victory.
Despite being the pre-match favorite, De Minaur lost the opportunity to defeat the Spaniard on clay twice.
Only three guys have ever defeated Rafael Nadal in back-to-back matches on this surface, so if he had prevailed, he would have become a member of an elite group.
Djokovic Novak
With eight victories in their 28 meetings against Nadal on the dirt, world No. 1 Djokovic has more experience than anybody else in defeating the tennis player.
Additionally, despite Nadal’s dominance in their rivalry on this surface, the Serbian has defeated the Spaniard twice in a row on clay.
This occurred for the first time in Djokovic’s incredible 2011 season, in which he did not drop a match until the French Open.
During that run, he defeated Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Open final and again the following week in the Italian Open final.
2015 saw Djokovic dominate once more and defeat Nadal in straight clay-court matches.
In the final four of the Monte Carlo Masters and the final eight at Roland Garros, the 24-time major winner defeated Rafael Nadal.
Fognini Fabio
Despite being a mercurial talent, Fognini’s record versus Nadal was not great; in 14 of their 18 meetings, the former world number one defeated the Italian.
However, Fognini has triumphed three times against the Spaniard on clay, including two consecutive victories in 2015.
In the Rio Open last four, Fognini overcame a set down to defeat Nadal 1-6, 6-2, 7-5. Later in the season, they faced again in Barcelona, where Fognini won 6-4, 7-6(6).
Gaston Gaudio
Gaudio, a former world No. 5 seed, is most likely known for winning the French Open in 2004 by surprise—the year before Rafael Nadal started to dominate in Paris.
The only player to defeat the Spaniard three times in a row on the surface was the Argentine, who seemed right at home on the dirt after winning his first three matches against him on clay.
When they met again in the Bastad quarterfinal the following year, Gaudio won in straight sets after dropping just four games in their first encounter in Hamburg in 2003.
In Buenos Aires in 2005, he also won an odd 0-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Rafael Nadal; nevertheless, Nadal would win their next three matches to even the heads-to-head record.
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