Rafael Nadal battles past Lukas Rosol after surviving a big scare in Basel - UBITENNIS

Rafael Nadal battles past Lukas Rosol after surviving a big scare in Basel

By sampaolo
7 Min Read

Rafa Nadal fought back from a set down to scrape a very tough first round match against Lukas Rosol who came close to his second win over the Spaniard when he was leading 6-1 5-3 in the second set. In the first set Nadal won just one of the 18 points on Rosol’s serve, while Rosol hit 8 winners.

Nadal turned around the match by reeling off four consecutive games at 3-5 to win the second set with 7-5. Nadal broke serve when Rosol was serving for the match at 5-4. Rosol broke back in the third set before Nadal held his nerve to win a dramatic match at the tie-break of the decider in three sets with 1-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4)

Nadal met Rosol for the fourth time in their careers. The Spanish star led 2-1 in their head-to-head matches but the Czech player famously beat the 14-time Grand Slam champion at Wimbledon in 2012.

Nadal is making his second consecutive appearance in the Swiss Indoor Open in Basel-

Rosol won his first service game to love. Nadal drew level to 1-1 by holding his serve with an ace. Rosol was very solid with his serve and won his second second service game to love for 2-1. He broke serve in the fourth game before holding serve in the next game to pull away to 4-1. The Czech player got a double break for 5-1 as Nadal made a double fault at 30-40. He held his service game to wrap up the first set with 6-1 afte 23 minutes. In the first set Nadal hit just one winner to 9 unforced errors.

Rosol picked up where he left off in the first set breaking serve at the start of the second set. He held his service game to race out to 2-0. Nadal won the second game of his match in the third game for 1-2. Rosol held his next service game easily with an ace to open up a 3-1 lead. Nadal won the fifth game for 2-3 by holding his service game after an error from Rosol. Both players held their next two service games.

Rosol hit an ace to take a 5-3 and was just two points from victory at 5-4 30-0. The Czech player served for the match but in the most decisive moment of the match Nadal held his nerve and sent a backhand pass down the line to get a vital break to draw level to 5-5. Nadal won a point at the net to win the 11th game on his service game for 6-5. Nadal got his second consecutive break to win the second set as Rosol made his second double fault of the match as he was serving to stay in the set at 5-6  .

Nadal was on fire and won the first game of the decider to love with an ace. He turned around the match by getting a break in the second game. He confirmed the break to win his third consecutive game for 3-0.

Rosol clawed his way back into the match breaking back in the seventh game for 3-4 and held his service game to draw level to 4-all. Nadal held his nerve on his service game and clinched the ninth game for 5-4 after Rosol made an error at the net. Rosol won his service game to love to draw level to 5-all. Nadal held his service game to love for 6-5- Rosol won the 12th game to force the match to the tie-break.

Rosol got a mini-break on the first point of the tie-break en route to racing out to a 3-0 lead. Nadal won the next two points for 2-3 before breaking back for 3-4. Nadal won the next three points to earn a match point which he converted at his first opportunity after 2 hours and 18 minutes.

“Rosol was very tough to beat. I just tried to survive. I am working very hard every day to play at my best level. This is my motivation that make me continue playing”, said Nadal after the match

Basel is a stepping stone for Nadal on the way to return to his best form in 2016

“Compared to the start of the year I am stronger mentally. I have a lot of work to do to return to my best level. I want to be in the position to reach what I am aiming to achieve next year. The goal is to enjoy tennis again”, said Nadal to the Swiss television SF2

Nadal will face the winner of the match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sergiy Stakhovskiy in the second round

In other matches Adrian Mannarino fought back from a set down to battle past Viktor Troicki with 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-3) after saving two match points.

“Swiss Maestro” Roger Federer, six- time winner in his home city Basel, will make his eagerly awaited debut tomorrow in front of his home fans against Mikhail Kukushkin. The other seeds of the Basel Swiss Indoor Open are Stan Wawrinka, Kevin Anderson, Richard Gasquet, John Isner, Marin Cilic and last year’s finalist David Goffin.

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