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 clay-court tournaments in successive weeks.
The rematch, following de Minaur's victory over the king of clay in last week's Barcelona Open, will come at the Madrid Open after Nadal warmed up ruthlessly for the encounter on Thursday by handing out a rather brutal lesson to a 16-year-old US wildcard Darwin Blanch.
Nadal, still making his way back after injury and with questions over whether he'll 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 .
