Reuters
Basel, Oct 27: Third seed Rafa Nadal came within two points of defeat by old nemesis Lukas Rosol before sparking into life and reaching the second round of the Swiss Indoors tournament here Monday.
Spaniard Nadal was in all sorts of trouble, trailing by a set and 4-5 and with 69th-ranked Rosol serving at 30-0, but his Czech opponent framed a basic backhand volley at 30-15 and blew his chance. Nadal taking advantage of the mistake carved out a 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) victory.
A Rosol double fault allowed the former World No.1 Nadal to take the second set and the decider looked like being a no-contest as Rosol’s challenge began to unravel.
Nadal moved a break ahead but, at 4-2, Rosol played some stunning ground strokes to earn three breakpoints and though Nadal saved two of them, he then blazed a forehand long to hand over the game.
Angry looks were exchanged as the decider moved into a tie-break in which the Spaniard trailed 0-3 before Rosol’s forehand deserted him and Nadal won seven of the next eight points to get the job done.
“It was a very tough match emotionally,” Nadal, said. “At the same time, it’s a great victory. It’s important for me to have these kinds of comebacks. I’ve been in these situations more times than I would like this year, so I’m happy to win a match like this.”
Fourteen-times Grand Slam champion Nadal, who has already booked his place at the ATP World Tour Finals despite a relatively lean year, will play Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov or Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in round two.
