Rafael Nadal Made To Fight In Paris
12 November 2009
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World number two Rafael Nadal was made to fight for his third round place at the Pars Masters against compatriot Nicolas Almagro.
The Spaniard has struggled with injury since early summer, which forced him to pull out of Wimbledon, and is still on the road to full fitness.
However he looked a shade of his former self as he struggled with his serve and range in the opening set making mistakes that we don’t expect from the six time Grand Slam winner.
But Almagro took full advantage of the poor play from his opponent as he cruised to the first set, despite never taking a set off Nadal in the past.
Nadal’s play improved in the second set and at 4-5 up he failed to take advantage of a set point on Almagro’s serve.
He paid dearly for his missed opportunity as he lost his serve in the next game to leave Almagro serving for the match at 6-5.
40-0 up n that game it looked like a famous win for Almagro but Nadal had other ideas as he showed great mental toughness to save five match points to take the second set into a tie break.
In the tie break Almagro was still reeling from the previous game as Nadal raced to a 7-2 lead to level the match.
Into the third and despite the momentum appearing to be with Nadal he was unable to sustain as the pair traded breaks.
At 3-3 Almagro required treatment for cramp but Nadal still failed to take the advantage as the underdog went on to once again serve for the match at 5-3.
But Nadal once again dug deep to break before holding to level the set at 5-5. Almagro’s fight disappeared as Nadal finally wrapped up the match 7-5 in the final set to progress into the third round where he will face another Spaniard Tommy Robredo.
Speaking after the match Nadal said: "I played great tennis in only one moment, but in the rest of the match I didn't play well.”
"I am very lucky to be in the next round. That's the truth. I played bad but I won, which is the one positive thing."
Robredo had an easier route to the third round as he saw off Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4.
And it was a late night for Andy Murray as he was taken the distance by American James Blake. The fourth seed looked in complete control in the opening set as he took it 6-3.
But James Blake was ready to go down without a fight as the pair were unable to make any inroads on each others serve which saw the set go to a tie break.
Blake rallied well against the Scot and levelled the match at one set a piece by winning the tie break 7-5.
There was more of the same in the decider as there was no sign of a break of serve as there was a second tie break in the early hours of this morning.
Despite not playing many matches in recent weeks with a wrist injury Murray held his nerve to wrap up the match 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4).
He will now face Radek Stepanek in the third round who saw off Viktor Troicki 6-4 6-0. Murray has currently taken the first set 6-1.
Novak Djokovic was comfortably through in straight sets as he saw off Juan Monaco 6-3 7-5 while there were also wins for Fernando Gonzalez and Robin Soderling.
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