Rafael Nadal managed to take revenge against Lukas Rosol that did upset him 2 years ago in Wimbledon 2nd round. The Spaniard was closed to defeat once again, but this time Rafa found the solution.
Rafa was 1 set down and he had to save a set point in the second set tiebreak with a great forehand down the line. Losing that point would have been hell for Nadal that should have recovered from a 0-2 set deficit. Eventually the King of Clay won the second set to then grab the match 4-6 7-6 (6) 6-4 6-4.
Some numbers
Rafa managed to play a very solid tennis to commit just 11 unforced errors (46 winners). Rosol on the other side had to be much more aggressive to fire many more winners (59), but he has obviously committed many unforced errors (38). Eventually Rafa scored 129 points vs. Rosol’s 117. Match Stats
Nadal: It is a very important victory for me
Rafa was happy to have grabbed this tricky win to comment “Every match is so difficult here. Especially when you play against players that really decide to play every shot at full power. I played a bad game in the 4-4 and I lost the first set. I think until that moment I was playing better than him, but didn’t have my chances on the return because he was serving well. I am very happy. It is a very important victory for me. I finished the match playing at a very high level.”
Next vs. Kukushkin
Rafa will play world no. 63 Mikhail Kukushkin in the 3rd round. Head to head is 2-0 for Rafa that has never really struggle against him.
