Nadal gets even with De Minaur at Madrid Open but still doubts his body can hold up at French Open

MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal tore his headband off, thrust his arms in the air, and soaked up the cheers. It was only a second-round win, but coming from where Nadal had been just a few weeks ago when he couldn't even get on the court, he could have been savoring a trophy.

He had just beaten 11th-ranked Alex de Minaur 7-6 (6), 6-3 at the Madrid Open on Saturday, avenging a straight-set loss to the Australian less than two weeks ago.

Nadal is no longer aiming to add to his 92 career titles after being decimated by injuries in recent years. The 37-year-old just wants to play like Rafael Nadal, or as close to that as he can. So he is going forward game by game, measuring his efforts to avoid an injury that would likely force his definitive retirement, with the ultimate goal of being competitive one more time at next month’s French Open.

“I have been through some very difficult months when there were moments when I didn’t see the reason to continue, but I had the dream of experiencing feelings like this again and above all at home,” Nadal said. “It was incredible.”

The 22-time Grand Slam champion was cheered on by Spanish King Felipe VI, soccer great Zinedine Zidane and a raucous crowd that packed the Caja Magica to see what will most likely be the tennis great’s last tournament in Spain.

Nadal was playing just his fourth competitive match since his latest injury layoff in his farewell season.

De Minaur beat Nadal just 11 days before in Barcelona, where the Spaniard returned to the courts for the first time in more than three months. Nadal looked much better this time around.

But Nadal said being ready to play at Roland Garros, with its more demanding five-set format, is another matter, especially given the importance he has for the tournament he has won 14 times.

“Roland Garros is the most important tournament of my tennis career, and all the things that I lived there, enjoyed there, stay in my heart forever,” he said.

“So if I am not able to go on court and dream, even if it’s the minimum, minimum percentage, (then) for me doesn’t make sense to go on court. I’d prefer to stay with all the amazing memories that I have. I want to be there, and even losing, but, you know, to go on court with the chance to dream about something important."

Nadal got a straight-set win over American teenager Darwin Blanch on Thursday, but De Minaur was much stiffer competition and the tension in the stands of Manolo Santana Stadium was palpable.

The first set saw both players break serve twice. De Minaur then saved four set points before Nadal finished him off in the tiebreak to take the lead. Nadal pressed his advantage, broke De Minaur’s first service game of the second set and closed out the victory.

“I’m super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex, play over two hours," Nadal said after his first win over a top-20 opponent since 2022. "It means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke, so I can’t thank enough everybody here.”

Nothing less than sports royalty in his Spain, Nadal grunted out his first “Vamos!” (Let’s go!), more to himself than his staff or fans, after winning his first point. He pumped his fists after landing his hammer of a left-hand drive; he argued heatedly with the chair judge over whether or not he challenged a line call on time; he shook his head when he hit long, chiding himself for not adjusting to Madrid's high altitude.

And the crowd ate it up, shouting “Viva Rafa!” between points and “Ole! Ole! Ole!” after his backhand winner set up match point. De Minaur double-faulted to do himself in.

Nadal has won a record five times in Madrid, the last time in 2017.

Next up will he face Pedro Cachin in the third round after the Argentine beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4.

TOP SEEDS ADVANCE

Top-seeded Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek brushed aside their first opponents.

Sinner downed fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-0, 6-3 in the second round to improve to 5-0 against his countryman.

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev rallied past Matteo Arnaldi 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while fifth-seeded Casper Ruud beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-1.

The seventh-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas was upset 6-4, 6-4 by Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro, ranked 118th. Tsitsipas won Monte Carlo this month before reaching the final of Barcelona last week.

Grigor Dimitrov, seeded ninth, lost to Jakub Mensik 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, while Felix Auger-Aliassime, Sebastian Korda, Ben Shelton, and Alexander Bublik were among players who won.

Swiatek made quick work of Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 to reach the women’s last 16.

The top-ranked Swiatek, who lost last year’s final to Aryna Sabalenka, improved her record this season to 26-4. She will next face Sara Sorribes Tormo on Monday after the Spaniard ousted Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (0), 6-3.

Coco Gauff, seeded third, downed Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-1 and will next face Madison Keys.

The 2022 winner Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari, Jelena Ostapenko — all top-10 players — also advanced.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Alex de Minaur, of Australia, returns the ball to Rafael Nadal, of Spain, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, celebrates after winning to Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, celebrates against Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, celebrates against Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, celebrates after winning to Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns the ball to Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns the ball to Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, competes against Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Jannik Sinner, of Italy, serves a ball to Lorenzo Sonego, of Italy, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Jannik Sinner, of Italy, returns the ball to Lorenzo Sonego, of Italy, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Stefanos Tsitsipas, of Greece, waves to supporters after a match against Thiago Monteiro, of Brazil, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Thiago Monteiro, of Brazil, reacts during a match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, of Greece, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Jannik Sinner, of Italy, competes against Lorenzo Sonego, of Italy, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Jannik Sinner, of Italy, returns the ball to Lorenzo Sonego, of Italy, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Stefanos Tsitsipas, of Greece, during a match against Thiago Monteiro, of Brazil, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Thiago Monteiro, of Brazil, celebrates during a match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, of Greece, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, gestures during a match against Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, serves a ball to Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, during a match against Iga Swiatek, of Poland, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, returns the ball to Iga Swiatek, of Poland, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns the ball to Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, gestures during a match against Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial Thursday, two days after she spent hours recounting in sometimes graphic detail the alleged 2006 sexual encounter with the former president that she was eventually paid to keep quiet about during the 2016 presidential election.

The former president's attorneys aggressively sought to poke holes in Daniels' credibility during cross-examination, accusing the porn actor of trying to extort Trump and rehearsing her testimony — two assertions she forcefully denied. The defense also made a failed attempt to have a mistrial declared, arguing that Daniels' morning testimony had “nothing to do with this case and is extremely prejudicial.”

Trump denies the two ever had sex.

Prosecutors say Trump and two of his associates orchestrated a scheme to influence the 2016 election by purchasing and then burying stories that might damage his campaign.

Daniels' testimony is a build-up to the prosecution's star witness Michael Cohen, who arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels and later went to prison for orchestrating the payments and other charges.

Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up the hush money payments and instead recording them as legal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

Currently:

— Here is what Stormy Daniels testified happened between her and Donald Trump

— Inside the courtroom where Trump was forced to listen to Stormy Daniels

— Hush money, catch and kill and more: Terms to know in Trump trial

— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial

— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here

Here's the latest:

Donald Trump's lawyers asked New York's mid-level appeals court on Wednesday to expedite a decision on his gag order appeal.

The court did not take immediate action but set deadlines for court filings in the next two weeks. If the court refuses to lift the gag order in Trump's hush money case, his lawyers want permission to take their appeal to the state’s high court, called the Court of Appeals.

The gag order bars the former president from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and some others in his criminal trial.

Donald Trump has arrived in court in Manhattan and entered the courtroom with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.

Scott filed into the first row of the courtroom gallery behind the defense table, joining Trump’s entourage. He spoke with Trump lawyer and spokesperson Alina Habba before taking a seat. He’s sitting next to Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten.

Over the first few weeks of Donald Trump's hush money trial, the scene outside the courthouse has largely settled into a routine — a few dozen members of the public, a typically small group of demonstrators and the journalists covering the day-to-day developments.

But the arrival of Stormy Daniels seems to have shifted that equilibrium.

With Daniels set to re-take the stand on Thursday, a far larger share of the public has amassed outside 100 Centre Street, alongside new ranks of media from the U.S. and abroad. A few minutes before 8 a.m., as lines swelled to their longest since the start of the trial, court officers said they had no choice but to turn people away.

Among the members of the public in line was Rose Brennan, a 63-year-old woman wearing a hand puppet meant to resemble Donald Trump. “He has accompanied me on many adventures,” she said of the puppet. “Even though I hoped he would have been retired by now.”

She said she and the puppet traveled from New Jersey, arriving outside the courthouse at 5:30 a.m. because “I just want to be a witness to history.”

Donald Trump is facing four criminal indictments and a civil lawsuit. You can track all of the cases here.

A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against the former president.

On Tuesday, the federal judge in Florida presiding over the classified documents prosecution of Trump has canceled the May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely.

As former President Donald Trump remains stuck in the courtroom listening to salacious details of an extramarital sexual encounter he denies, another spectacle is playing out in the background as his vice presidential tryouts get underway.

The dynamic was on full display in Florida at a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago club that doubled as a VP audition.

“This weekend, we had 15 people. ... They’re all out there campaigning,” Trump told Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin on Tuesday. “It might actually be more effective this way because, you know, every one of them thinks they could be chosen, which I guess possibly is so.”

For now, the presumptive GOP nominee is happy to revel in the attention as reporters parse his choices and prospective candidates jockey and woo him in an “Apprentice”-style competition.

Hush money, catch and kill and more: Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial is full of terms you don’t typically hear in a courtroom.

Centering on allegations Trump falsified his company’s records to conceal the nature of hush money reimbursements, it’s the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial. It also has some unique terminology.

The Associated Press defines these terms and more here.

Porn actor Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial on Thursday morning.

Though she is the latest high-profile name to be called up for questioning, Daniels is key to the events and charges at the center of the criminal case against the former president.

Daniels has said that in 2006, she and Trump had sex in his hotel suite during a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where her studio was a sponsor. She testified Tuesday that the encounter was “brief” but left her “shaking.”

“I just wanted to leave,” she testified.

A decade later, she was paid $130,000 in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential race to keep quiet about the encounter. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.

Michael Cohen, then Trump’s attorney, paid Daniels through a shell corporation he created and the deal was finalized on Nov. 1, 2016, just a week before Election Day.

Prosecutors have said that payments from Trump reimbursing Cohen were falsely — and illegally — logged as legal fees to cover up their actual purpose. Trump’s lawyers contend the payments were legitimate legal expenses.

Donald Trump is expected in Manhattan court Thursday morning as witness testimony resumes in his criminal trial.

Porn actor Stormy Daniels will return to the stand after defense attorneys began grilling her during cross-examination Tuesday afternoon.

The former president spent most of Tuesday listening to Daniels tell jurors about her background and upbringing, her career in the adult entertainment industry and how it led to meeting Trump, and — ultimately — the alleged 2006 sexual encounter that resulted in a six-figure payoff in exchange for her silence a decade later during the 2016 presidential election.

It remains to be seen who will take the stand after Daniels' concludes her testimony.

FILE - Stormy Daniels arrives at an event in Berlin, on Oct. 11, 2018. Witness testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial is set to move forward again and all eyes are on who will be called next. An attorney for Stormy Daniels says the porn actor is expected to appear as a witness on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Stormy Daniels, second from left, exits the courthouse in New York, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Porn actor Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, took the stand mid-morning Tuesday and testified about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, among other things. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Former President Donald Trump, followed by his attorney Todd Blanche, walks to speak to reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump talks reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)