“It means a lot”: Rafael Nadal makes winning return in Barcelona

Spain’s Rafael Nadal won against Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Barcelona Open at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona on Tuesday – winning on the court named after him seven years ago.

The 12-time Barcelona champion has not competed on the tour since January, when he lost in the Brisbane quarter-finals.

“Every time it is more difficult and especially when you are at an advanced age, it makes things even tougher,” Nadal said afterwards. “I’m going through tough moments but at the same time, when I’m able to be on Tour for a few days and practise with the guys and then be able to compete a little bit, it means a lot to me.

“Still enjoyable enough to keep going. I’m happy to start with a victory without a doubt.”

This is his 67th win at this particular tournament – but his first match there since 2021, when he won the title.

Indeed, it is also his first clay-court match for almost two years, since he beat Casper Ruud to win Roland-Garros in 2022.

Rafael Nadal will face No 4 seed Alex De Minaur next.

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Barcelona ATP 500, other first-round results (Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, clay, EUR 2.782.960, most recent results first):

• Daniel Altmaier beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Tomas Machac beat Juncheng Shang (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Jaume Munar beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 6-3, 6-1
• Dusan Lajovic beat Diego Schwartzman (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Hugo Grenier (LL): 6-2, 6-4
• Luca Van Assche beat Zhizhen Zhang: 7-5, 6-2
• Alexandre Muller beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas (WC): 7-6 (4), 6-0
• Sebastian Ofner beat Pavel Kotov: 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
• Nick Hardt (Q) beat Martin Landaluce (WC): 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Harold Mayot (Q) beat Pedro Cachin: 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3
• Marco Trungelliti (Q) beat Duje Ajdukovic (Q): 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Arthur Cazaux: 5-5 ret.
• Roberto Bautista Agut (WC) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Brandon Nakashima beat Daniel Evans: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Facundo Diaz Acosta beat Daniel Rincon (WC): 6-1, 6-4