Rafael Nadal survives scare and sinks Francisco Cerundolo

Two lines on a Covid test proved devastating for Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday morning, but for at least half a dozen players in the bottom half of the men’s singles draw, including former champion Rafael Nadal, the chance of a run all the way to next week’s final improved significantly with the bookies’ second-favourite removed from the reckoning.

Nadal, the winner in 2008 and 2010, has not reached the final since 2011, and there were moments in his four-set defeat of Francisco Cerundolo on Centre Court on Tuesday when a first-round exit, for only the second time in of his Wimbledon career, felt a good deal more plausible than a run into the second week.

This was the No 2 seed’s first match here since losing in the semis in 2019, and his ongoing issues with a foot injury had also not allowed him to get his eye in for the grass after his win in the French Open at Roland Garros last month.

Cerundolo, ranked No 41 in the world and making his Wimbledon debut, arrived on court with only one win on grass to his name but armed with a steely determination to make his 36-year-old opponent think and move as much as possible. He mixed drop shots with returns that landed right at the Spaniard’s feet, finding the baseline with impressive regularity and thumping down several forehand winners for good measure.

Nadal, meanwhile, was struggling to time his groundstrokes on both forehand and backhand, and Cerundolo’s willingness to stick to the gameplan, even when a few forehands drifted a little long, was enough to keep him in the set. And if the 23-year-old enjoyed a little good fortune in game five to retrieve an early break of serve – Nadal slipped at 15-40 but still did almost enough to save the point – it was no more than he