Alex de Minaur has been handed the chance to achieve what would once have been thought of as "mission impossible" — knocking out Rafael Nadal from two Spanish claycourt tournaments in successive weeks.
De Minaur took down Nadal in the second round in Barcelona last week, and will try to do the same in Madrid after the 22-time major winner handed out a rather brutal lesson to 16-year-old US wildcard Darwin Blanch.
Nadal, still making his way back after injury and with questions over whether he will make it to one final French Open, effectively treated the match as a training exercise as he crushed the green teen, who was making only his second tour-level appearance, 6-1, 6-0 in 64 one-sided minutes.
Their mismatch also featured the largest age gap — 21 years and 117 days — in the history of ATP Masters 1000 matches, but Nadal offered a faint smile as he pondered what will be a much more forbidding encounter against de Minaur in Saturday's second round.
In Barcelona eight days ago, de Minaur outplayed the 37-year-old Nadal 7-5, 6-1 on the court named in his honour, and the five-time Madrid winner is just glad to be savouring his return to the Caja Magica — Magic Box — arena one final time before he hangs up his racquet.
"Just trying to enjoy every moment. Tomorrow, one more day of practice here — and then after tomorrow, on court again. That makes me feel great," Nadal said.
"I think today I played against an opponent with a great future in front of him. I just tried to be there, be solid all the time without taking a lot of risks.
"It worked well. I'm happy to be through and I wish him [Blanch] all the very best for the future."
De Minaur and 32nd seed Jordan Thompson, who both enjoyed first-round byes, will be joined by another Sydneysider in the second round after Max Purcell enjoyed a fine comeback win over American Marcos Giron 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7/2).
In the next round, he will face American 25th seed Sebastian Korda, the brother of professional golfer Nelly, who is on a run of five LPGA victories in a row.
Hopes of more Australian interest in the second round in the men's draw in Madrid were scuppered when Chris O'Connell was well beaten 6-4, 6-1 by Matteo Arnaldi.
Lucky loser Daria Saville is the lone Australian on the women's side and faces a second-round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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AAP