We didn’t see that coming!
Rafael Nadal had to really dig deep against world no.50 Radek Stepanek.
The Spaniard was definitely not at his best. His shots were rather short and he was committing far too many unforced errors. Stepanek was taking full advantage of it to also avoid Rafa’s forehand as much as he could.
So the first set was a huge nightmare for Rafa that was broken twice to lose 6-2. In the second set Rafa got the decisive break in the 5th game to win 3-2.
The third set was a real thriller. Rafa broke Radek in the very first game to then lose the serve soon after. The key game was the 6 one (3-3). Rafa was serving and he recovered a 0-40 deficit to hold the serve. Eventually Nadal broke Stepanek again in the 11th game (6-5) to win the set 7-5. Match Stats
Nadal: I was very close to lose
“It’s true that with love/40, I was very close to losing, to being out, but I think I did two good serves and then I played a great point. Tough one. Anything can happen, but in the end I played well. After that, I think I played better.” said Rafa
“I’m happy to be through, because the start of the match, even if I felt at the beginning I didn’t play that bad, it was very quick 4-1, and I felt I was not playing that bad.”
Next vs. Dolgopolov
Rafa will play Dolgopolov in the next round. Head to head is 5-0 for Rafa that has never conceded a single set to Alexandr
